Sweetwater’s defense put together a better performance in the Wildcats’ second scrimmage of the fall.
Allowing only one score through Friday night against Midway and Cosby at Midway, Sweetwater improved from the three touchdowns allowed against East Hamilton a week ago.
“My overall takeaway from the scrimmage is our team showed some grit and toughness last night. A little bit of nastiness and that is how we want them to play the game,” Sweetwater coach Tommy Bunch Jr. said. “I thought they played with that and really showed it for the first time. That excited me — it leads us to the brand of football that we want to play.”
Ayden Steffa stood on the Wildcats’ defensive line while Tyler Beasley and Jeremiah Parris operated as Sweetwater’s safeties.
Jaxen Powell continued his physical preseason at linebacker while freshman Logan Whaley continued to show improvement.
“I thought we showed a lot of improvement from our first scrimmage, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I thought we tackled a lot better, especially in space. I felt like we were in the correct position to make plays and we continued to rally to the football,” Bunch Jr. said. “I thought there were a lot of improvements on the defensive side of the ball.”
The Wildcats and Midway — which won three games in 2023 — finished scoreless while Sweetwater lost one score to none against the Cosby Eagles, who went 1-9 last season.
Both teams ran drives limited to 10 plays, on both sides of the ball.
“Not happy with what the format was. I think we are too close to the season to be doing that, but that is what they wanted to do,” Bunch said.
Sweetwater’s offense moved the ball but was kept out of the endzone, partly due to the format of the evening.
The Wildcat backfield continues to operate with heavy doses of Ty Finch and Jeremiah Parris. The duo found holes on the right side from senior linemen Silas Brown and Lucas Stamey.
“I thought we ran the football well. I thought (Fitch and Parris) they did a good job of making cuts and running the ball hard. I thought they made their own yards based on second effort,” Bunch added.
Hayden Osborne held up well at left tackle while freshman Elijah Lowe saw reps. Sweetwater hopes to get Lowe involved on the field in some capacity this fall.
Sophomore quarterback Nolan Dacus threw the ball around, connecting with Hunter Daffron, Isaiah Stiles and Parris on the night. The group advanced on long-yard plays, but Sweetwater was held from the end zone on the night.
Lucas Rockholt pulled in a long pass on the final play of one of Sweetwater’s drives.
“I thought our passing game struggled a little bit last night. I never felt like our receivers and quarterback got into sync and I don’t know why that was,” Bunch said. “I wanted to see definite improvements in our passing game from both positions — quarterback and wide receiver. With that being said, we did a lot of good things in the passing game and we advanced the chains.
“The blemish on the night is we were not able to get into the endzone. We have to be able to execute at the highest level in order to get that done.”
Sweetwater will compete in Friday’s jamboree at Tellico Plains, facing Polk County in the third quarter.
The Wildcats will open their season at Sequoyah on Aug. 23, 7:30 p.m.
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