News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Stone Memorial Coach Derek Samber said last week’s opening loss to Cookeville provided a learning experience for his defense.
The Panthers allowed nearly 300 years rushing. Samber said it was clear Cookeville was a senior-led 6A program and his team was a sophomore-led 4A program. This week, the Sweetwater Wildcats travel to Crossville.
“A little different of flavor of offense,” Samber said. “Sweetwater threw for right at 300 yards, I believe, in their week one game. So expect them to air it out, throw it around and test our secondary and ability to rush the passer. So yeah, a different flavor of football this week but the fundamentals and techniques are very much the same.”
Sweetwater beat Sequoyah 42-26 in week one.
In week one, the Cavaliers only threw the ball six times, with one interception and a 48 yard touchdown. Samber said week one mishaps were an example of inexperience and only time will fix that.
“I think our kids were excited to play, I don’t think it was a lack of confidence,” Samber said. “I think it was just a lack of experience, a lot of inexperienced mistakes. Little things that we can certainly clean up over the course of the season and hope to clean up as soon as this week and see some changes there.”
Samber said players like inside linebacker Cody Parker, Dylan Phillips and Lincoln Eldridge played physical and confident in their new positions on defense, but tackling will be a focus moving forward.
Being a 4A school that does not have the depth of a bigger program, Samber said practicing tackling while ensuring player safety is a constant challenge.
“That’s one of the many fine lines in high school football coaching,” Samber said. “Really the emphasis is technique. You know, you can’t just beat the crap out of each other. We don’t have 85 guys on scholarship. So, really try to focus on technique and execute that technique and hold them accountable to that technique. Hopefully having that first game under their belt, they go into the next one more confident.”
While he was proud of his team’s effort and resilience in their opening loss, Samber said this week will be a real test for his team’s toughness.
“I think we’ll know a lot more after this week,” Samber said. “I was pleased with effort and attitude Friday, even in a loss to Cookeville. But, we’ll see what our mental toughness is as we challenge these kids all week in practice as we face a good Sweetwater team on Friday.”
