Tellico Plains walked off its home field feeling confident Thursday.
The Bears executed who they want to be smoothly — pounding the pigskin on the ground to five touchdowns to Copper Basin’s one.
A 30-6 win to wrap up the program’s spring schedule showed the signs of what a senior-latent Tellico team hopes to be this fall.
“I felt like we learned they are going to compete and going to fight. This is a good, senior-led group and they keep each other accountable. We saw that tonight,” Tellico Plains coach Bobby White said. “We were just trying to execute our base stuff and we did a pretty good job of that for the most part.”
Five different Bears picked up scores in the win. The night saw healthy doses of rising seniors Chance Shapiro and Ryan Shaffer, who got things going in the run game.
Shaffer has the capability to be a standout in Monroe County, but injuries have kept him off the field for the past two seasons.
“We were able to move the ball effectively. We have to fix a few things in the passing game with pass protection, but we did a pretty good job in the run game,” White said.
Shaffer and Shapiro were amongst the Bears to find paydirt, along with third-back Nathaniel Bivens, quarterback Omar Miller and Braden Reed — an athlete who turned his jet sweep into an 80-yard score.
“We have a really good running back room,” White added.
The Bears are hoping to make strides in the passing game. Tellico struggled with pass protection and limited attempts.
“We were pretty close in the passing game. We were close to connecting on several passes, we just did not come down with it a couple times,” White added. “They were tough and contested chances — Omar put it right on the money. But their defense did a good job of covering us. We just did not win those 50-50 battles with the ball in the air.”
Tellico looked to connect with familiar receivers from last year — the likes of Ike Hollinghead and Reed along with Austin Hall and Adam Holley as well as a returning Brayden Enterline, who has transferred back into the school.
“I thought the receivers did a good job of blocking and that helped in the ball game. We really played hard and competed; I was proud of that,” White said.
Tellico’s offensive line was familiar to the backend of 2023. Eden Byers returns at starting center while Gabe Sherwood, Jaden Driver and Lynkon Hamilton return.
“They got some continuity and some chemistry there that showed up tonight, especially in the run game,” White said.
White noted concerns about the depth for Tellico’s line, citing it as a focal point this summer.
“It has been really challenging. We do not have a lot of depth there. Our first five are pretty good, and we have a couple guys we can plug in there, but the rest of those guys are really inexperienced,” White added. “That is going to be a focus this summer.”
Defensively, Tellico was very successful, holding the hosts under a half-century of yards and shutting them out with the first- and second-team defenses.
“Our defense played light outs. We held them around 40-50 yards and they did not score on our first or second defense,” White said. “I feel like the defense looked really good tonight, very sound and very fast.”
Shaffer and Shapiro’s dynamic duo continued at the linebacker corps. Shapiro is a returning two-time all-state selection by the TnFCA.
Hall and Holley competed at defensive end well while Miller was comfortable in his safety position. Reed showed signs of himself from last fall, locking down his side of the field.
Allen Matthews picked up one of Tellico’s two interceptions while a host of Bears’ fumble recovery put Tellico in the plus-three on turnovers.
Tellico will continue lifting and practicing through June, leading to a 7-on-7 and the team’s lift-a-thon.
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