Last Thursday, the Sylvania Varsity Football team hosted a 7-on-7 camp. This camp featured five teams from DeKalb County including Collinsville, Crossville, Geraldine, Plainview, and Sylvania. Other teams that participated in the camp were D.A.R., Madison County, North Jackson, Westminster Christian, and Woodville. Here are recaps of how each county team looked on Thursday.
Sylvania started the day off slowly with a loss to D.A.R. in their first game. The Rams quickly got things going in their next game when they defeated Westminster Christian. The Rams’ defense began the game with a quick stop before freshman quarterback Brody Smith led the Rams down the field that ended in a touchdown reception from Drake Casey. Westminster scored on their next possession, but Sylvania answered back when Smith rifled another touchdown pass this time to Kris Shavers. The Rams’ defense held Westminster from scoring on their next two possessions. Smith then capped off the victory with one final touchdown pass to Logan McCullough.
Smith remained hot for the Rams in their next game against Crossville where all four of Sylvania’s drives ended with touchdown passes to Keenan Wilbanks, Jake McSpadden, Gareth Anderson, and McCullough. Sylvania then fell to Plainview in a hard-fought battle before defeating Madison County. After the lunch break, the Rams finished the day with games against North Jackson, Collinsville, and Geraldine. The Rams finished the day with an overall 4-4 record.
Plainview came into the camp looking to give a lot of their skill players several looks. After losing twenty players last year, the biggest thing for the Bears was trying to find different looks for different guys. Plainview finished the day with a 4-3-1 record while constantly switching quarterbacks throughout the day. Brody Parker and Andrew McLaughlin were the two guys that rotated in and out at quarterback.
Collinsville had a strong passing game going for them led by junior quarterback Kaleb Jones. The Panthers finished the camp with an overall 5-2 record. In their third game of the day, the Panthers defeated class 5A Madison County. Jones fired three touchdowns in their 20-0 victory over Geraldine. The Panthers then blew past Woodville in a two-touchdown game for Jones.
Geraldine came in with junior quarterback D.J. Graham running the offense under center. Graham has some experience at quarterback, because last season, he played back-up quarterback to Thomas Willoughby who would be placed at running back on a few occasions. The Bulldogs had a successful day with their play-action passing with returning playmakers David White, Jackson Bearden, Kyle Thackerson, and many more. Geraldine’s defense also played well. They held off Madison County for a win, and their defense shutout Plainview later in the day.
Crossville was looking to find successors to several of their playmakers who helped to grab a spot in the state playoffs last season for the first time since 2004. One of the biggest roles that the Lions needed to fill was their quarterback position. Sophomore Hunter Haston played the quarterback position for most of Thursday’s games. His most success came when he targeted Cameron Adkins.
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