Fans at Burley Stadium got their first taste of football on Friday night as Science Hill traveled to Greeneville for a preseason scrimmage.
In the game-like simulation the Devils first unit was in control the whole time it was on the field, and that had coach Eddie Spradlen feeling good with regular season now just two weeks away.
“I’m really proud of our effort and how hard we played. Our first defense didn’t give up anything, and our first offense had productive drives,” Spradlen said. “I’m looking for how hard we play and what our conditioning is, and today I felt like we did a good job with both of those. We’re playing a lot of guys both ways and I felt like we were in better shape than they were. That shows me how hard we have been working in practice and in the weight room.”
The Greene Devils defense set the tone early by forcing the Hilltoppers into a three-and-out on each of their first two drives. On those drives they allowed a combined four yards. Spradlen was particularly pleased with how linebackers Noah Murray and Jhervious Moore, along with safety Maddox Bishop were flying to the football.
“Against a good team it felt good to shut them down early. They have a big offensive line and big running backs that run hard, so I was really proud about that. We had guys flying to the football,” Spradlen said.
On offense Taren Calridy put on a show for those gathered at Burley Stadium with a trio of magnificent grabs. The sophomore’s first catch of the night turned into a 76-yard touchdown after Caden Baugh found him streaking down the left boundary. Once he caught the ball in stride no Hilltopper had any chance to catch him.
On the next series Baugh threw into traffic near the left pylon, but Claridy made it work as he skyed over a pair of defenders and came down on the one-yard line for a 26-yard gain. One play later Carson Quillen ran across the goal line.
Claridy’s final grab of the night came on a third down with 19-yards to gain. Kaine Ricker threw the ball short but Claridy came back and took it off the head of one defender before wrestling the ball away from another as he went to the ground. The play went for 21-yards and a first down.
“I think I have the two best receivers around, and add to that the best running back around,” Spradlen said referring to Claidy, Zaydyn Anderson and Quillen. “We’ll be able to stretch the field with our speed on the edge and our quarterback did a good job of finding them today. Everybody is going to try stop our run game, and it was really good to see Claridy go out and make plays on the edge today.”
Science Hill did find the end zone once on Friday. The Hilltoppers starting offense got behind the defense on a play-action pass and scored a 52-yard touchdown against the Devils’ second unit.
Much of the focus of Friday’s action was spent on building depth and nailing down some starting roles. According to Spradlen there is still a lot of competition for starting spot, but he looks at that as a good thing. The coach believes he has a lot of guys that can go in the game and get the job done, and ultimately, he expects to put a lot of guys on the field this fall.
“We still have a lot of competition at a lot of positions, and today I saw a lot of guys step up. I feel like we have a lot of guys that can step on the field and help us right now,” Spradlen said. “It makes us a better team with more guys playing. The more guys you have playing the more buy in you have. One of the big things about this group is that we are a tight football team. You could see that tonight. We have each other’s backs, we are tight on the sideline. That is big for us.”
Next up for Greeneville is the 5 Star Preps Jamboree at Carson-Newman on Thursday. They will play Campbell County in one varsity quarter and one junior varsity quarter. The regular season will kick off on August 23 at home against Tennessee High.
