Sevier County Smoky Bears Dominate Farragut with 35-7 Season Opening Victory

Chad Wells

Aug 23

6 min read

Updated: Aug 24

For the second season in a row, the Sevier County Smoky Bears opened their season against the Farragut Admirals in the FirstBank Football Classic held on the campus of Carson Newman University. Just like the year prior, the Smoky Bears came away with a convincing win to kick off their season.

The Smoky Bears opened the season with the football after winning the coin toss and electing to receive and immediately made an impact statement only two plays into the game as senior QB and recent UCONN commit Cooper Newman connecting with fellow senior and recent Duke commit Parker Newman for the season opening score, on a 68 yard catch and run for the Sevier County touchdown to make it 7-0.

"Not just for us, but for everybody on the team. Everyone was saying the jitters were gone now, we got the touchdown out of the way and so plays like that when you set the tone early in the game and that's what we wanted to do this week and we were able to run off with it afterwards.", Cooper Newman stated on the early touchdown.

"I thought it was great for the whole environment, to really just open it up and set the tone." mentioned Parker Newman of his opening touchdown.

The Admirals would gain some momentum in their next drive after a nice 15 yard run on 1st down would move the sticks for the Admirals but the Bears defense would stand tough for the remainder of the drive and forcing a turnover on downs, following a stop on 4th and 3 and handing the Smoky Bears the ball in Admirals territory to start their second drive of the game.

Brayden Maples would get his first carry of the season on 1st down, gaining 5 yards before Newman would hit Jaxson Perry across the middle of the field on third down for 14 yards and another Smoky Bears first down. Newman once again connected with Perry for 7 yards to move the ball to the Admirals 20 yard line.

A quick screen pass to Maples gave Sevier County another first down on the next play before Nathan Patterson was met in the backfield by the Admirals for a loss of three setting the Smoky Bears up with a second and 13 from the 14 yard line.

On the second down play, the Newman to Newman connection once again found each other, on the play action bubble before Parker Newman did the rest, as he dove for the pylon in front of the Admirals defender for the Sevier County touchdown. The Smoky Bears chose to go for the two point conversion, following a Farragut penalty on the PAT and Patterson would deliver on a run up the gut to make it 15-0 Sevier County.

The next Admirals drive would end quickly as Perry would get into the backfield, forcing the fumble which he recovered giving the Smoky Bears excellent field possession, looking for more points.

"I'm very pleased, the defense didn't let them across the 50 yard line until the fourth quarter. I thought we were physical at the point of attack from the get go." Coach Todd Loveday mentioned of how proud he was of his team's defensive efforts.

On the first play of the drive Newman would find Zach Banks in the flat and Banks would do the rest, taking it 20 yards for the Smoky Bears touchdown, the PAT from Aiden Ottolini would put the Smoky Bears out front by a score of 22-0.

The Sevier County defense once again held firm to force another 4-and out from the Admirals and would take possession of the third drive at their own 25 yard line.

The drive was opened by Patterson with 2 rushes for a handful of yards before the Admirals jumped offsides to give the Smoky Bears a 3rd and 2 just before the end of the first quarter.

Newman would hit Banks on the jet sweep to end the quarter for a gain of 15 and another Smoky Bears first down to close out the period. Newman would once again target Banks on third down with a deep go route down the left sideline where Banks fully extended having appeared to make a spectacular grab, however, the referee ruled that the ball had hit the turf and Sevier County would punt for the first time on the season.

Sevier County's defense was once again up to the challenge of defending against the Admirals wing-t offense delivering several tackles behind the line of scrimmage highlighted by a huge hit from Alexis Martinez on second down.

The Admirals gained a first down but the drive was halted after a sack from the duo of Parker Newman and Jaxon Perry to force another Farragut punt.

Maples would open the next drive with a 3-yard gain, however, the Smoky Bears drive stalled and were forced to punt the ball back away to Farragut following the four and out.

Farragut was once again forced to punt the ball after another quick four and out forced by the Smoky Bears defense with 42 seconds and no timeouts remaining in the half.

Newman once again hit P. Newman for another 12 yard gain on first down, and nine more on the next play. Coach Todd Loveday would call on his senior kicker Aiden Ottolini for the 35 yard field goal attempt, which was true and the score heading into halftime was Sevier County leading Farragut 25-0.

The second half opened with more of the same from the Smoky Bears defense as Brayden Russell met the Admirals running back in the backfield on first down for a 3 yard loss. Sevier County once again held on the defensive front forcing yet another Admirals punt which was downed on the Sevier County 35 yard line.

Newman once again would find Perry across the seam for a 16 yard gain and Smoky Bears first down to the Admirals 49 yard line. Patterson found some room on first down for a 7 yard gain moving the Smoky Bears further into Farragut territory.

Another 12 yard gain on a catch from Perry and another 5 yard rush from Patterson had the Smoky Bears down to the Admirals 26 yard line. Aven Mitchell would get in on the action with a 16 yard reception down to the Farragut 10 yard line.

Newman would find Perry once again all alone streaking across the back of the endzone for the 13 yard touchdown, pushing the Smoky Bears lead out to 32-0.

After another Admirals four-and out Sevier County would move the ball down the field with a 11 yard pass play from Newman to Newman, Mitchell with a 11 yard reception, a 9 yard rush from Maples, and 9 more from Mitchell on the bubble flair pass before the drive stalled before Ottolini connected with another field goal, this time from 31 yards out to make it 35-0 Smoky Bears with 6:15 remaining in the game.

Farragut would get their lone score of the game with 30 seconds remaining after Sevier County had made wholesale changes in their defensive alignment, opting to get their younger players some very valuable game time and experience.

The Smoky Bears will travel to Jefferson County on Friday evening for a clash with the Patriots. Sevier County won last years meeting at Lon C Burchfield Stadium 41-7.

Individual Performances:

Passing: Cooper Newman: 23-30 / 267 yards / 4 TDs

Rushing: Nathan Patterson: 9 carries / 13 yards

Brayden Maples: 7 carries / 32 yards

Alexis Martinez: 1 carry / 2 yards

Receiving: Parker Newman: 6 receptions / 108 yards / 2 TDs

Jaxson Perry: 5 receptions / 60 yards / 1 TD

Aven Mitchell: 3 receptions / 36 yards

Zach Banks: 3 receptions / 44 yards / 1 TD

Brayden Maples: 1 reception / 10 yards

Diego DeCoursey: 1 reception / 7 yards

Alexis Martinez: 1 reception / 5 yards