JOURNAL SPORTS
Explosive offenses have been the hallmark of Huntington football recently under coach Stephen Dennis.
But record-shattering passer Kamron Evans is playing college ball now, so the Raiders will lean on their defense early this season, at least. They did Friday night in a jamboree battle against Southwood at Independence Stadium.
Huntington hung goose eggs not only in the varsity contest, a 14-0 Raider victory, but also in the freshman (12-0) and junior varsity (18-0) games.
“We all played really well,” said Dennis. “We had a lot of holding penalties in the varsity portion, and they killed momentum and cancelled big plays.
“Our quarterback, Lorenzo White, played really well tonight. He operated our offense really well. Kaleb Tucker, a junior receiver, had a good night, with a touchdown catch.”
Standouts on the Raiders’ defense included 290-pound senior Brian Rodriguez up front and senior linebacker Derek Edwards. Dennis also liked the performance of his defensive backs.
The Cowboys, under new coach Mike Green, earned praise from the Raiders’ coach.
“He has his numbers (of players) way up. Coach Green has a tremendous amount of energy and his team reflected that. They play really hard, disciplined football,” said Dennis. “I think Southwood is on the rise.”
Huntington is back in Independence Stadium next Friday, hosting Mansfield. Southwood opens the regular season Thursday night meeting Green Oaks in a matchup on the new turf at Northwood.
GREEN OAKS 6, BOOKER T. WASHINGTON 0; GREEN OAKS 6, NORTH CADDO 0; NORTH CADDO 20, BTW 6: The Giants pitched a pair of shutouts and squeezed out narrow decisions in the BTW Jamboree held at Leonard C. Barnes Stadium.
North Caddo was much more productive offensively in its matchup with BTW, scoring 20 points.
All three teams have first-year head coaches. None was happier than Green Oaks’ James Bradford Jr., who had plenty of cause to be pleased about this weekend.
“The boys gave me a great start to my birthday tomorrow (Saturday),” he posted on Facebook. “Competed well in the jamboree … . Good luck to Chase (Thompson, the Titans’ new coach) and Coop (Gary Cooper, the Lions’ head man) this season!”
North Caddo begins the regular season next Friday at Bossier. Green Oaks plays Thursday night, again at Jerry Burton Stadium, against another team with a new head man, Mike Green and his Southwood Cowboys. BTW opens in Monroe against always powerful Wossman.
