NOLENSVILLE, Tenn.—Williamson County held an eight team football jamboree at Nolensville High School on Thursday evening featuring Fairview, Summit, Independence, Nolensville and Centennial. Games consisted of two 12-minute quarters. Here’s a summary of what happened.
Fairview’s size, speed too much for Cascade
Coach Chris Hughes has put together consistent winners in Fairview. From the looks of Thursday’s 20-0 rout of Cascade, the Yellow Jackets will field a winner again in 2018.
Logan Nardozzi, Kam Harris-Lusk and Dillon Jewell all had touchdowns for Fairview, while senior defensive lineman Steven Jewell had a pair of tackles for loss.
Hughes’s offenses have always featured a number of players who can make plays in the open field, something that was again the case on Thursday.
After Nardozzi’s scoring run with 6:33 left in the first quarter, Fairview struck again when senior receiver Will Hyche made a terrific, diving catch that went for about 40 yards, setting up Anniken King’s 1-yard scoring throw to Harris-Lusk. Skyler Wilson added the point-after.
On the scrimmage’s last play, Dillon Jewell hauled in a 17-yard touchdown, and Fairview didn’t attempt the point-after.
New quarterback Brock Harris played well for Fairview.
“Brock threw the ball well tonight,” Hughes said. “He’s still learning everything and making good decisions. I’m excited about how good he’s going to be. He’s just touching the surface.”
The Yellow Jackets are uncharacteristically big this year. Fairview’s offensive line averages 275 pounds, many of whom play defense. One is Steven Jewell, who helped Springfield’s front dominate Cascade.
“Little Fairview got big this year,” Hughes cracked.
Fairview travels to Page to open its season on Aug. 17.
Summit struggles with Blackman
Blackman’s playmakers and size caused problems for Summit in the Blaze’s 20-0 victory on Tuesday.
Coach Brian Coleman spent the night frustrated with his team. The Spartans were overmatched on the line of scrimmage and on the whole, weren’t sharp, committing critical penalties and concentration lapses.
Blackman’s Ta’micius Napier scored a touchdown just 3:27 into the night. The Blaze out-gained Blackman, 237-56, and averaged 9.9 yards per snap.
The highlights for Summit: running backs George Odimegwu (six carries, 30 yards, one catch for 13) and Tre Hunter (4-10) ran well.
But Coleman was frustrated with the effort in front of them.
“The offensive line has got to get a whole lot better,” he said.
Summit opens with Spring Hill on the 17th.
Sheffield, Independence stick it to LaVergne
Independence receiver T.J. Sheffield will be the Eagles’ go-to offensive threat for 2018. He looked more than ready to step into that role with a two-touchdown effort in Independence’s 28-0 demolition of LaVergne.
Sheffield, who’s committed to play football at Purdue, caught a 65-yard touchdown on the game’s first drive, then added an 18-yard catch later in the first quarter.
Quarterback Nathan Cisco had a big night, throwing four touchdowns against an interception. The other touchdowns went to Isaiah Collier and Jaxson Wiggins on passes of 13 and 18 yards.
“We obviously were able to get some things [working] and score quick at times,” Eagles coach Scott Blade said. “There’s some good stuff there but obviously we’ve got to tighten up across the board.”
Independence dominated LaVergne in the trenches with its size, especially when LaVergne tried to run.
“I thought the front seven played pretty well,” Blade said. “Last week, we didn’t tackle worth a darn. So that was a big point of emphasis, to get them downhill better.”
Linebacker Jack Phillips helped snuff out LaVergne’s best scoring chance, recording a sack to force a third-and-17. His teammates held on the next play to preserve the shutout.
Nolensville tops Centennial in defensive struggle
Brandon Wharton’s touchdown pass to tight end Tim Stayskal provided the only touchdown in Nolensville’s 10-0 win over Centennial in the night’s last game.
Luke Jenkins added a 36-yard field goal for the Knights, who are playing just their second full season of football.
The game was marred by five first-quarter turnovers between the teams. Centennial’s Jariel Wilson and David Amos had interceptions, while linebacker Gabe Bauman had a fumble recovery for Independence.
“I liked the way we battled, I liked the way we fought,” first-year Nolensville coach Paul Derrick said. “Like I told the kids, we talk about not easing into the game. We’ve got to start faster, with a sense of urgency. We didn’t do that tonight. Centennial did, and they marched the ball down the field on us, and then we got the ball, and then we turned it over, that was a lot of adversity in the first five or six minutes of the ballgame.
“So, I was proud of how our kids battled back. They didn’t quit. They fought to the end.”
Wharton found Stayskal for a 9-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds left in the first quarter.
WIlson, the Cougars’ two-way star at running back and safety and an Austin Peay commitment, played well on both sides of the ball.
“I didn’t want him to play as much defense as he did, but when a kid tells you he wants to be on the field, [it’s hard to] keep the kid off the field,” Centennial coach Matt Kriesky said.
Backup quarterback Jeffry Wiesel got a number of snaps for Nolensville also, and played well.
