Can Rossview football challenge once again in Region 7-6A? Defense will be key

On its way to an undefeated 2023 regular season and Region 7-6A championship, Clarksville football met almost no resistance.

The Wildcats outscored opponents by 41 points on average and never trailed in the regular season. Just once did they find themselves without a lead in the second half.

That one occasion was the penultimate game of the regular season, the Battle for the Warfield Shield against rival Rossview. Clarksville didn't take the lead for good until one minute remained in the third quarter, and the final score — 28-7 — was its smallest margin of victory.

While the Wildcats have been the city's best team for three years running, the Hawks, after two seasons in the relative wilderness, emerged as their stiffest competition last fall. With multiple leaders from a stifling defense and efficient offense returning, Rossview could be set up to challenge Clarksville once again as it looks to duplicate its most successful season in nearly a decade.

The Hawks went 7-3 last season and hosted a home TSSAA playoff game for the first time since 2014 and just the third time in their history. It's an even more impressive feat considering they went 3-7 in both 2021 and 2022.

"We had a lot to prove last season off those two losing seasons before," linebacker Kole Phillips said.

Senior quarterback Reed Bryant , who will be a three-year starter, had the highest completion percentage (60.4%) and quarterback rating (108.9) in Montgomery County last season. Bryant should have a deep receiving corps in Hank Recer, Jayden Westmoreland and Cole Crockett, and plenty of time in the pocket thanks to 6-foot-6, 299-pound junior left tackle Lucas Piekielko .

But it's on defense — and specifically at linebacker — where Rossview will hang its hat for a second season in a row. Seniors Phillips and Johnny Cabaleiro and junior Phillip Shipstead combined for 204 tackles and 20 tackles for loss to lead a unit that recorded five shutouts in 2023.

"We expect to expand and build on the momentum last year," Rossview coach Todd Hood said. "We did lose some critical people in the secondary, so we're looking to fill some holes, plug some people in and just try to fine-tune. I think (defensive coordinator Strati Young) did a fabulous job with the defense, but we're still learning and I think we've even improved some things defensively, as well as offensively. ... Going into this year, we're just a little step ahead of the game."

Added Shipstead: "We're all going to be hungry towards the ball and there's always going to be people chasing. There are gonna be eight (players) in the frame at every tackle."

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Expectations have risen higher than merely returning to the postseason for the Hawks, who fell 48-16 to Bartlett in the first round of the TSSAA Class 6A playoffs in 2023. Hood said they've "been looking at some things" that they can do to prepare for the playoffs, in which their potential first-, second- and third-round games will come against Memphis-area teams in Region 8-6A.

But before that, Rossview wants to claim the Warfield Shield for the first time since 2016. Doing so will take, in Hood's words, a lot of "overcoming," superb conditioning to stand up to the Wildcats' methodical option attack and a commitment to the identity the Hawks established last fall — which, for Phillips, means coming in "with a punch in the mouth."

"The latter part of the game last year, they just sort of wore us down physically," Hood said. "We didn't make enough first downs when we needed to to keep the ball out of their hands, limit their possessions. ... But we're looking forward to this year. Last year doesn't mean anything. Everybody's got new kids, new players, some new coaches in different positions. I think this year's gonna be a little bit different, and we're looking forward to that."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: Can Rossview football challenge once again in Region 7-6A? Defense will be key