Panthers show progress vs. Sequatchie County

Michael Lindsay, Crossville Chronicle, Tenn.
·2 min read

Aug. 8—Stone Memorial football hosted their first home scrimmage of the fall on Friday as they faced off against Sequatchie County.

"It was a good scrimmage for us," said SMHS head football coach Derik Samber. "I asked the guys that we make fewer mistakes than the first scrimmage at Anderson County, and we definitely did that.

"We moved the ball well on offense, but had a few too many holding penalties," Samber added. "We had two turnovers, which is disappointing. We were a handful of plays from having a really efficient day, but we were still solid anyways."

Stone Memorial defensive back Maddox Oquendo took an interception back for six to highlight the defense's performance.

Offensively, multiple Panthers contributed.

"Blayton Flowers and Chris Hannah had big days carrying the ball," Samber added. "We had six guys catch passes, too."

One of those passes was a touchdown to all-state receiver Kaleb Flowers from quarterback Hunter Heavilon.

"We were actually behind the sticks in the red zone," Samber said. "Hunter went through his progressions and made the right read. He threw a great ball, and Kaleb got behind the defense."

Multiple other Panthers stepped up on both sides of the ball.

"Brady Lane had a great scrimmage," Samber added. "Isaac Pheaster did great things on defense, along with Braden Looper doing things on both sides of the ball.

"Preston Mayberry was everywhere," Samber added. "Cole Dayton and Jordan Collins really shined as well."

Stone Memorial gets one final scrimmage Friday as they travel to White County for a jamboree with the Warriors.

"The jamboree is basically dress rehearsal," Samber added. "We'll go a couple series with our starters and get everybody else under the lights after. We're less than two weeks away from game one at this point.

"We still need to tighten some stuff up," he added. "We had a few turnovers and penalties we can't have. We'll get Lenoir City-specific here in the next little bit. Everything is installed at this point, it's just a matter of game planning at this point."

Stone Memorial kicks off the regular season against Lenoir City Aug. 19 at 7 p.m.