Morristown West coach Alvin Sanders was wrapping up his postgame speech to his team on Friday evening following their scrimmage against William Blount when he heard a voice. “Coach, can I say a few words to the team?” That question came from senior linebacker Ian Carr, who spent the following five minutes telling his team everything they needed to work on and what it was going to take to be ready to go when game one rolls around next week. For Sanders, he said Carr’s speech was one of the only times during his coaching career he can remember a player stepping up to talk to the team following a game.
“He’s one of those guys that when he’s got something to say, everybody is going to listen,” Sanders said about Carr. “He’s going to lay it on the line. What he said was pure, it was from the heart, and it was what we needed to hear.
Every guy was looking at him, he had their attention. That’s leadership. Those kids don’t understand what that is going to do for our football team.
I’m excited for it and glad he’s on our side.” As far as Friday’s scrimmage went, it was an up-and-down affair for West. The Trojans had some big plays against the Governors but also struggled at times to move the ball.
Following two straight 3-and-outs from the West offense to start the game, they finally got one of those big plays as Issaiah Hayes broke loose for a 60-yard rush down close to the end zone. Camren Richards finished things off to give the Trojans their first touchdown of the game. It was the second big run of the preseason for the Trojans’ rushing attack, as Richards broke free for a big carry last Monday against Science Hill.
“They came in different type situations, as well,” Sanders said about the two runs. “We had different o-line groups and everything else. When we put it all together, we’re going to be an explosive group.
Issaiah is hard to tackle and is our power back. It’s just a glimpse of what we can do, and I am excited to see what we can do.” West scored one more time in the scrimmage, on a clinical drive.
During the drive, Jack Bivens had a big run, TJ Walthall took a QB run play and turned it into positive yards and then showed off his arm with a beautiful pass in the endzone and great catch by Marquis Davis. “We just decided to start playing football,” Sanders said about the second touchdown drive. “We had a nice tempo, were physical, backs ran hard and our quarterback stepped up.
It finished off with a big play and nice catch by Marquis.” Defensively, the Trojans struggled against Science Hill last Monday with tackling and finishing plays. On Friday night, they still missed some tackles but cut down their mistakes.
As a whole, the defense allowed just seven points. Luke Orr and Ian Carr had sacks to lead the charge. “Very much so,” Sanders said about his defense tackling better.
“We still have a long way to go, though. Last week, we had about 80 missed tackles and I think we cut it down to about 30. Still too many, but better.
The pursuit was better. We had guys running to the football and ready. We just have to keep improving.
” The highlight play of the night for the defense came on the final play of the first half, as freshman Hayden Wild stepped in front of a pass and intercepted it. “Hayden is a ballplayer,” Sanders said. “The more we try to hold him back, the more he’s proven he’s ready.
He, Christian (Evans), Skylan (Johnson) and Keegan (Covington) are the four freshmen standing out. They’re earning every minute and finding different ways to make plays.” Morristown West will have one final tuneup, a jamboree at Cherokee on Friday, before opening the season on August 23 against Morristown East.
“We need to work on our special teams and keep working on our tackling,” Sanders said. “Offensively, we didn’t click as much as I expected in the passing game so we have to sure some things up with our quarterbacks and receivers.”.
