For the second consecutive night, the Sand Rock football jamboree was canceled due to strong thunderstorms moving throughout the Cherokee County area on Friday evening. The event was originally scheduled for Thursday, but never got started due to a lightning delay, which led to an eventual postponement until Friday.
The jamboree was to feature the host Wildcats, Cedar Bluff, Gaylesville, Spring Garden, Geraldine and Glencoe. Glencoe had to drop from Friday’s schedule, but was replaced by Collinsville.
However, lightning and thunderstorms once again put a damper on the event.
“It’s frustrating, and it hurts you money-wise,” Sand Rock coach Russell Jacoway said. “For our county schools, this is about the biggest money gate you have once every four years when you get to host this. But, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“(Gaylesville) Coach (Brian) Clowdis put it best. He said ‘This was the jamboree that was not meant to be.’”
Jacoway said anyone who presented their ticket stub to workers in the Sand Rock gymnasium was refunded their money. He also expressed his disappointment that fans didn’t get to see much football, and also expressed his gratitude to the coaches for being patient.
“We made two changes in the lineup just today (Friday),” Jacoway said. “I appreciate Coach Clowdis, (Cedar Bluff) Coach (Jonathan) McWhorter and (Spring Garden) Coach (Jason) Howard especially. They were very patient and very understanding. They were going to do whatever we needed to do to try and play it.”
When asked about the possibility of playing the jamboree on Saturday, Jacoway said it wasn’t discussed.
“We’re playing Cedar Bluff on Thursday night (in the regular season). Nobody wants to come back on that short of notice,” Jacoway said. “My own kids are very leg-weary right now. We need to get our legs back under us.”
Spring Garden and Sand Rock did get a quarter of play in, with the Wildcats scoring the scrimmage’s only touchdown on their first drive of the night.
Sophomore quarterback Drew Norris capped a 7 play, 65-yard drive with a 27-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Brannon Burt in the left corner of the end zone. Senior Matt Cole’s extra point was good, giving Sand Rock a 7-0 lead with 12:13 to go in the first quarter.
Norris finished the quarter a perfect 3-for-3 through the air for 55 yards and a touchdown. The Wildcats gained 75 total yards.
“I was very pleased with Drew Norris throwing the football,” Jacoway said. “He’s thrown it real well all fall. Brannon Burt made a good catch in the end zone, but we expect that out of him. I was pleased with the way we played, and I was pleased with our second group we put in. Some of them hung in there and played well, I thought.”
Jacoway went on to say there were some “rough edges we’ve got to straighten out.”
Spring Garden managed 63 total yards in the quarter, led by senior tailback Trey Littlefield’s 49 yards on six carries. Littlefield fumbled on his first carry of the night, but settled in after that. His biggest run was 27 yards. He also caught a 4-yard pass from junior quarterback Reece Johnson.
“I felt like he missed a few cuts he should have made,” Howard said of Littlefield. “He ran the ball hard, but he didn’t handle it too well.”
Howard went on to say he was “semi-pleased” with the Panthers’ offensive line, which returns only one starter in senior Casey Steward. Howard also singled out solid play by Johnson, junior tailback Kaleb Morris, freshman quarterback Jake Grogan, sophomore center Dusty Young and senior offensive guard T.J. Brittain.
On what turned out to be the final drive of the night, the Panthers faced a 4th-and-4 from the Sand Rock 17 after Morris’ 5-yard rush when the quarter ended. Lightning in the area forced game officials to suspend play at approximately 5:30 p.m.
The players never returned to the field.
After approximately an hour delay, and thunderstorms still in the area, the jamboree was called off.
“I feel like we were fortunate to get a quarter in,” Howard said. “My main concern is I feel like we’ve had two days wasted with execution and reps, and our conditioning worries me too. We only played a quarter, but I saw enough to correct.”
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