(Smith County Insider Press) Gordonsville High School’s first ever inaugural jamboree kicked off Friday night, August 14, with a good crowd from both visiting Macon County fans and Gordonsville’s loyal followers. An estimated attendance of several hundred fans got to see the final tune up before the start of the regular season next Friday night. Sponsored by the Gordonsville Quarterback Club, the jamboree will be renewed next year in Lafayette. According to an assistant coach from Macon County, they hope it will blossom into an annual event with the possibility of other schools getting involved.
The Macon County faithfuls must have been pleased with their main team’s performance as they looked sharp on offense exploding for 27 points in the first two quarters of play. They scored on their first four possessions. Their first score came on a 36-yard pass play as Seth Carlisle hooked up with Evan Perrigo. That was followed by TD runs of 3, 26, and 4 yards by the trio of Carlisle, Matt Austin and Braxton Crawford. Place-kicker Marshall Averra hit 3 out of 4 extra point attempts for the 27 point total. Austin’s running attack accounted for 137 yards on 6 carries.
Gordonsville’s offensive highlight was a 67-yard scamper by junior running back Jay Vaden around the left end that resulted in their only score. Jacob Lancaster booted the extra point which knotted the score at 7-7 midway through the first quarter. Then Macon County reeled off 20 unanswered points. There were several good runs by Gordonsville’s own trio of running backs: Sheldon Harris, Jesse Harris, and freshman tailback Braxton Givens. Gordonsville’s offensive coordinator, Scott Clemmons, indicated that this team’s offensive scheme of a wing-T formation would lend itself to “a lot” of rushes. Senior quarterback, Damian Davis, has shown steady improvement through this pre-season as he hung in the pocket when he needed to, and picked up some valuable yards when flushed out a couple of times. An example of this improvement came when he stayed in the pocket under pressure and hit Koby Watts streaking across the middle for a 13-yard aerial.
Gordonsville’s JV squad exacted a bit of payback with a 12-0 score over Macon County’s JV team. The support came with solid play from their defensive unit. Spearheaded by interceptions from Bailey Rooney and Mitchell Kirby, the defense held Macon County in check by limiting their offense to very few yards. Gordonsville’s JV offense, led by freshman quarterback Adam Goolsby, put 2 TD’s on the board. Goolsby hit Austin Phann on a beautiful fade route and Chris McKinley scampered in the end zone on an end-around to complete the scoring.
Head coach, Ron Marshall, while pleased with the overall performance, cautioned that his team is still awfully young, and still lacks experience especially along the offensive line and at key spots on defense. With the season opener at Watertown next week, experience will be gained and a youthful demeanor will age.
