Week One
Too much hype for Powell game? Nah
“There is no better game in the great state of Tennessee,” Anderson County High School Athletic Director and Assistant Coach Gary Terry said about the ACHS football Mavs’ matchup with Powell High School Friday night.
Terry may be overly-enthusiastic at times, but not for this matchup.
The fourth ranked 5A team in the state — Anderson County — on the road against a “top 10” 5A school — Powell — has been talked about since the schedules were released earlier in the year.
No, it’s been talked about since the end of Week Two last year.
Both teams lost seniors. Both teams have a plethora of returning starters.
The offensive line for Anderson County returns one starter, Sully Sexton, but this squad is big and brutal looking.
And it is Anderson County, so they play a whole lot like they look.
Defensively the Mavs will feed off their linebacker play.
That’s not saying the rest of the Mav defense will live in the shadows, but the linebacking corps of this Maverick defense has been the pre-season rock.
The Panthers have a plethora of backs who can grind it out. Keeping those backs from breaking off a big play will be a test. You can’t mention the Anderson County offense without mentioning Gavin Noe. He’s the returning all-state stud and he’s the type of player who puts team first.
Meaning signal caller Walker Martinez may have a banner night because Anderson County has a great bunch of talented and experienced receivers to go to if the Panthers concentrate to much on defending the running game.
Last year the Panthers scored with something like two seconds left in the game to take the win, 31-29, in the second week of the season.
Anderson County’s players remember that. Boy, do they ever.
“This has to be the game of the week,” Terry said. You know, he’s probably right about that.