Big-play Blue Devils beat Station Camp in jamboree

Aug. 17—GALLATIN — Jamborees are different from regular seasons. Kick returns are dead.

That worked in Lebanon's favor when Station Camp's 85-yard return of the opening kickoff was nullified.

The Blue Devils proceeded to overcome a lost touchdown with two TD tosses from Jaylen Abston and a 100-yard interception return by Justin Sandefur in a 21-7 victory in last Friday's preseason finale.

"Last week in a scrimmage, we returned a punt for a touchdown when we were supposed to be dead," Lebanon coach Chuck Gentry said. "I told our returners that these are dead.

"If you watched, you saw our guys in position and they were getting out of the way not to tackle him."

After the Bison lost their touchdown, the Blue Devils lost one when Kemontez Logue was ruled to not have a foot inbounds in the end zone on a 30-yard catch from Abston.

But Logue outmaneuvered a Bison defensive back on the next series for a 33-yard scoring catch in the end zone for a 7-0 lead midway through the first of the two-quarter match.

A bad snap on a Station Camp punt gave Lebanon the ball on the Bison 10-yard line. Abston rolled out and flipped a touchdown toss to Mason Tisdale to double the lead.

"We had one on offense, one on special teams (with the bad punt snap) and one on defense," Gentry said. "It's always a group effort. For high school kids, they don't understand that a lot. Special teams are just as important. Every snap is important because they can turn a game at any time. We're growing in that aspect."

Station Camp found some rhythm by going to the old-fashioned I-formation and smokestack-I, running the ball up the middle. But when the Bison tried to pass in the red zone, safety Justin Sandefur, a ballhawk in 7-on-7 passing leagues last month, intercepted the ball on the goal line and took it coast to coast for a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter.

"We've got a couple of D-linemen out," Gentry said. "We're normally going to rotate about seven or eight. Tonight, we were playing with four. They got a little tired. We were lining up in our base defense. We knew they were going to do it and we weren't going to get out of our base. With that big tailback they got, he's a hammer. We would probably do something a little different if they were going to do that in the regular season.

"That's one thing, we're not as big as we've been at times. We got to bow our neck and play with better technique."

The Bison broke the shutout with four minutes to play on Isaiah Moore's 10-yard touchdown run.

Station Camp went to the air in the final minute before Lebanon's Payton Hodge pushed a Bison receiver out of bounds inside the 5 on the game's final play.

"It was a good experience to get under the lights and put the new unis on and see how we react," Gentry said. "A lot of good things. A lot of bad things. We'll look at it on film and see what happens."

Lebanon will open the season at 7 p.m. Friday when Antioch visits Clifton Tribble Field/Danny Watkins Stadium. It will be a throwback night as the Blue Devils unveil their "L" stickers with the Blue Devil worn by LHS teams during most of the 1970s. A tailgate will begin at 4:45 p.m. with alumni invited.

"I don't know if we're ready for it right this second, but I think we're close," Gentry said. "They're ready to get out there and play football and play for real and meaningful snaps."

Wilson Central's J V scores in 7-0 win at White House

WHITE HOUSE — Wilson Central scored in the third quarter for the night's only touchdown in a 7-0 win over White House in jamboree action last Friday.

The varsity played to a scoreless first-quarter tie. The junior-varsity took over for periods two and three.

A White House turnover in the third quarter gave Wilson Central the ball inside the Blue Devil 5-yard line. Quarterback Cordell Cagle scored on a 4-yard run and Esteban Hurtado kicked the extra point.

Freshmen played the fourth quarter.

Wilson Central will open the regular season at 7 p.m. this coming Friday at Rossview.

Bears fall short at Beech, 16-14

HENDERSONVILLE — Mt. Juliet came up short 16-14 in a preseason-ending scrimmage at Beech last Friday.

Stephen Swoner passed to Amarion Workings for a 6-0 Golden Bear lead 31/2 minutes into the 20-minute scrimmage.

Beech scored the next 16 points before Swoner directed a late scoring drive which ended in a 5-yard sweep by Keion Irby in the final minute. But the two-point try failed and the Buccaneers took a knee to run out the clock.

Mt. Juliet will host Gallatin at 7 p.m. this coming Friday in the regular-season opener at Mel Brown Complex/Elzie Patton Stadium.

FCS jamboree at FRA canceled

Friendship Christian's scheduled jamboree at Franklin Road Academy was canceled last Friday due to threatening weather in Nashville.

The teams were originally scheduled to play Saturday before the game was moved up a day earlier last week.

Friendship will host Trousdale County at 7:30 p.m. this coming Friday at Pirtle Field in the regular-season opener.