New coach Wyatt Page wants to restore 'smashmouth' identity to Montgomery Central football

Wyatt Page's pedigree hints as much, but just in case that doesn't do the trick, his words should.

"We're definitely gonna be a physical, smashmouth team," the first-year Montgomery Central coach said. "We're gonna run the football, we're gonna play good, sound defense."

Page, a former college offensive lineman and assistant coach at Sycamore, takes over at a Central program coming off an 0-10 season. He's one of four new coaches in Montgomery County, joining Deonte Weston at Northeast, Mark Hall at Northwest and Michael Booker Jr. at West Creek.

And he's not using his status as one of Tennessee's youngest head coaches, or a winless 2023, as a crutch.

"We really have a group of tight-knit guys who play for each other and they work really hard," said Page, 27. "I'm really excited about the potential that we have. This senior class has a great opportunity in front of them to build something special."

Montgomery Central, which started playing football in 1971, has an all-time 34.5% winning percentage and has made just four playoff appearances in its history. Three of them — and both playoff wins — came during the 10-year tenure of Jeff Tomlinson , now the coach at Dickson County. Between 2012 and 2021, Central had three seasons with seven wins and cracked the top 10 in Class 4A multiple times.

Central may be among the state's most unglamorous jobs, but Tomlinson showed there's a way to win there — a fittingly unglamorous way. His teams almost never threw the ball , instead pummeling teams into submission on the ground. In 2018, Central went 10-2 behind an offense that ran for more than 300 yards per game.

Page's preferred style of football is not only similar to Tomlinson's, but a reflection of who he was as a player. A lineman and tight end at Creek Wood from 2012 to 2015, he signed with Cumberland University and went on to start 34 games for the Phoenix, for whom he was twice named a team captain.

After ending his playing career, Page immediately got into coaching, which he had been wanting to do since his sophomore year at Creek Wood. He had hoped to coach at the college level, but his desire to start a family won out — he and his wife have a young son — and kept him closer to home.

Page was named Region 6-3A assistant of the year in 2023 after coordinating a Sycamore offense that scored the second-most points per game in the school's 25-year history. The War Eagles averaged 24.6 points, 224 rushing yards and 6.5 yards per carry en route to a playoff appearance.

For Page, Central is "kind of like a dream job." It's just 20 miles from his alma mater, 30 miles from his previous job and has the same character as both of those schools: rural, midsized and passionate about sports regardless of success.

"At Creek Wood, Montgomery Central's one of our biggest rivals, so very familiar," Page said. " . . . I just knew how great of a community it was. It's very tight-knit, they support their athletics and support their student-athletes."

The players who Page will rely on to implement his desired smashmouth approach include a pair of seniors on the offensive line, Justin Vaughn and Josh Cordell, both returning starters, and senior Du'Varius Thomas should be one of the main ball carriers behind them. Page believes linebackers Brayden Sonthavilaylack and Wesley Mobley, both juniors, could be in line for breakout seasons .

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Senior safety Kanyon Conner, a two-time second-team Leaf-Chronicle All-Area selection, had 98 tackles, nine pass breakups, four forced fumbles, four blocked kicks and two interceptions, and he also is the team's leading returning rusher.

Page won't call plays himself, instead delegating those duties to Nathan Luce, a former Cumberland assistant with 15 years of college experience.

"If you overlook us, I promise it's gonna bite you in the butt," Conner said. "We're coming as hard as we can with everything we got."

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

This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: New coach Wyatt Page wants to restore 'smashmouth' identity to Montgomery Central football