Thursday, August 15, 2019

Countdown To Football: Cats, Cavs make final tune-ups in scrimmages

The final preparations are done for the 2019 varsity football seasons at Draughn and East Burke after a week of scrimmages.

The Wildcats opened with hosting R-S Central last Saturday morning, traveled to Chase Tuesday night, and faced Bandys in the Burke County Jamboree.

The Cavaliers hosted North Wilkes Tuesday night and rounded out the Burke Jamboree with R-S Central.

The following is a brief recap for both squads with remarks from head coaches Chris Powell (Draughn) and Mark Buffamoyer (East Burke).

Draughn opens the regular season next Friday at West Lincoln as East Burke stays home hosting Highland Tech.

DRAUGHN
The Wildcats return senior quarterback Braxton Cox and a pair of receivers Denver Treadway and Khe-Nai Banks to fuel the offense.

The offensive motor is even more strongly in the rushing game by Trent Corn and Nick Chrisco.

Chrisco recorded three catches out of the backfield vs R-S with Corn adding a touchdown run.

A new addition to Draughn's offensive system is Freedom transfer Beckett Nelson making two receptions vs R-S.

Vs Bandys, Cox made successful completions to Treadway and Banks to get deep in Trojans territory but to no avail in getting in the endzone.

"We're getting better, we were able to throw the ball well (against Bandys) and there were times the offensive line played lights out but also had pressure on us," said Powell.

On the defensive side, the Wildcats have featured new talent in Patton transfer Donovan King and freshman Donnell Wilkins.

King led in tackles in the R-S Central scrimmage with Wilkins recovering a fumble.

Other defensive standouts included Treadway, Robbie Gibby, and Omarion Connelly.

"We missed some tackles (on Bandys) and we just need to get better all the way around before next Friday night."


(Draughn receiver Beckett Nelson (3) attempts to push off R-S Central defender with Andrew Wyatt (64) and Aaron Lambert (75) applying blocks) (Wayne Baker)


EAST BURKE
Senior Josh Moore is the returning spark for the Cavalier offense rushing for 150 yards and two touchdowns vs North Wilkes.

Moore also scored on a 48 yard touchdown run vs R-S Central.

EB was also experimenting with a two-QB system in seniors Seth Pruitt and Brett Childers.

Childers handled QB duties Friday night setting up a goal line situation after a 14 yard tuck and run keeper.

Senior first year player Luke Coble and sophomore Blane Fulbright was able to assist the Cavs offensively.

Depth has grown for EB defensively with Childers, Coble, Austin Sellers, Landon Langley-Smith, Raelen Lo, Chase Lowman, Cody Huffman, Noah Rooks, Michael Magni, Chris Huffman, and Nick Saine each having their hand on a stop.

"We just go and get better (with these scrimmages) and know what we can do," said Buffamoyer. "We just now put this behind us because nobody will talk about scrimmages in the middle of the season."

(East Burke senior running back Josh Moore gallops past North Wilkes defenders with fellow Cavalier teammates looking on) (Wayne Baker)

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