| Charger run game, defense too much for JCM |
By: Stephanie Sturgis - Weakley County Press Sports Editor
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Posted: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 6:39 pm
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Out of reach — Charger fullback Desmond Johnson gets blocking from his line and eludes the grasp of a diving Jackson Central-Merry defender to romp 55 yards and score the final touchdown in Westview’s scrimmage win Saturday. Photo by Stephanie Sturgis
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The Westview Chargers found little resistance in their first preseason opponent of the 2010 season.
Westview dominated the action against the Jackson Central-Merry Cougars, scoring eight touchdowns to JCM’s none on a searing hot Saturday morning at Hardy M. Graham Stadium.
“It was a good first scrimmage. We’ll get back to work on the practice field and fix a few things and I think we’ll be okay,” Westview head coach Don Coady said of his team’s overall initial effort.
The Charger varsity offense scored on five of its seven possessions. Westview also got a trio of scores from its freshmen unit.
The Blue and Gold defense was rarely penetrated. In fact, the Westview defensive linemen were in the Cougar backfield on a regular basis, disrupting the JCM offense on nearly every snap.
“When we got lined up, we played pretty well defensively too. That was part of it. That’s the side we have most experience on so we should be further ahead there,” Coady noted.
Westview senior defensive end Denzel Cook frequently caused the JCM offense to abandon the called play and forced the quarterback to scramble. Robbie Callins, Barkley Legens, Rocky Williams, Ryan Austin, Bo Guest and Michael Ashmore all made big hits for losses. Callins managed two sacks on one drive, forcing a fumble that JCM recovered with one of his crunching tackles. Guest also forced a fumble with his hit, which WHS teammate Max Johnson recovered. Linebacker Quentin Walker intercepted a pass.
The Cougars deepest penetration only reached the Westview 30-yard line. A two-yard loss on first down was followed by an incompletion. Cook then hauled down the Cougar QB for a sack on third down and a high shotgun snap ended the JCM threat.
Offensively, Charger running back Abraham Haddad was the WHS cog that kept on turning. Haddad had a hand in four of the five varsity scores, crossing the goal line himself on three occasions.
On the first WHS offensive snap of the sweltering day, Haddad raced around the left end and advanced 25 yards before being tackled. Fullback Desmond Johnson added a 20-yard romp before Will Thompson hauled in an 18-yard pass from quarterback Tanner Spencer to move the ball to the JCM 7-yard line. Spencer took care of business from there, stiff arming a Cougar defender at the 2 on a keeper to the pylon for a score.
Landon Prather followed Spencer’s TD by booting the first of his four extra point kicks.
On the second WHS drive, Haddad had runs of 6 and 46 yards before scoring from 12 yards out.
He capped the third scoring drive with a 20-yard jaunt through the left side and into the end zone.
As for the offensive line, it is one of the few positions where the veteran Charger squad is working with a new cast. Coady is replacing three positions along the line. The O-line suffered a blow early when one of the predicted starters — Matt Granner — was felled with a hip injury that will keep him out for several weeks.
“Matt Granner got hurt on the first series We’d been working him at tackle. Drew Stigall came in and did a pretty good job for not having a lot of work at tackle,” Coady said.
The line is still a work in progress as film breakdown showed the unit needs to improve pass protection.
“I thought we were spotty there. They ran some stunts and blitzes that confused us and we missed some things up there. Overall, I thought we did okay,” the WHS coach said of his line play.
Giving the varsity players a breather in the scorching heat, the Westview freshmen and junior varsity took the field. Ashmore notched two scores on runs. The first covered 45 yards, while his second TD converted a fourth down and included a stretch to break the plane. Instead of Prather kicking after the touchdowns, this unit ran a play from the 3-yard line both times. On the first score, Hunter Beale added the 2-point conversion, while Ashmore punched in the second one.
The varsity came back on the field and struggled with an interception and a punt before Haddad capped their final scoring drive by catching a swing pass from Spencer and racing 18 yards.
Beale finished off a later JV drive with a 36-yard scamper to paydirt.
The scrimmage ended when Desmond Johnson blasted through the middle of the line and rumbled 55 yards to the end zone.
The Chargers return to action on Saturday morning when they will host Chester County at Westview.
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