Three Jackson County football teams set for preseason jamborees

Story By Jason Bowen

A trio of Jackson County high school football teams get their first taste of game action this week.

North Sand Mountain, North Jackson and Scottsboro will play in preseason jamboree scrimmages on Friday before opening their seasons for real next week.

Meanwhile, Section and Woodville will not play in jamborees ahead of their respective season openers next week while Pisgah hosts a preseason jamboree against Good Hope on Aug. 22 before opening its season Aug. 29. 

Here is a preview of each of Friday’s jamboree games:

Scottsboro at Chattanooga Christian — Class 5A No. 10-ranked Scottsboro leaves the state for its preseason fall jamboree, venturing to Chattanooga to take on Chattanooga Christian Friday at 6 p.m.

The teams scrimmaged last season at Scottsboro. 

According to the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, the Chargers have seven starters back on both sides of the football, including quarterback Nathan Deloach, offensive/defensive lineman and national champion wrestler Ryder Smith and wide receiver Carter Charapata, who holds college scholarship offers from Syracuse and Vanderbilt.

“We’re just kind of working on us and haven’t prepared a lot for them, but they should be solid like they were last year and be a good test for us,” said Tyler Vann, who is entering his second season as Scottsboro head coach.

Scottsboro has already been tested during fall camp, as projected starting junior quarterback Noah Tolleson suffered a season-ending injury. Colton Harding has been taking snaps since and Vann says the sophomore is progressing well.

“Feel terrible for (Tolleson). He had a really good summer, and really worked hard to get to this point and had a grasp of the offense, “Vann said. “Colton Harding has done a really good job. He’s a smart kid and he’s grown. He’s plenty good enough for us. We’ve got guys that can make plays, all we need is him getting them the ball.”

Vann lauded the team’s work during preseason practice and complimented the work of a young defense under new defensive coordinator Justin Little. 

“We’re playing a lot of young guys in the front, but they’re talented and this defense is really fast,” Vann said. “I thought they’ve done a really good job all (preseason).”

Vann said the Wildcats have “gotten better from the start of camp” and hopes Friday’s scrimmage with Chattanooga Christian helps them make another leap before their season opener Aug. 22 at TopCat rival Fort Payne.

“I’ve always heard you’re largest improvement is from Game 1 to Game 2,” Vann said. “We need to continue to improve before we go to Fort Payne. I think the biggest thing is we’ve got guys that care about what they’re doing and they want to be good.”

Cherokee County at North Jackson — It’s a preseason jamboree between two state-ranked Class 4A teams when the No. 10-ranked Chiefs welcome No. 2 Cherokee County to R.D. Hicks Stadium in Stevenson Friday at 7 p.m.

Friday’s jamboree is also a matchup of defending region champions, as North Jackson won the Class 4A Region 8 title last season while Cherokee County won 4A Region 6.

It’s the second straight season the teams have meet in a jamboree. Although last year’s scrimmage in Centre was limited to just over one quarter of play by inclement weather, North Jackson head coach Joe Hollis Jr. said facing such a quality foe in a jamboree “helped set the tone” for the Chiefs’ 2024 season’s success.

“We felt like seeing (Cherokee County’s) physicality really benefited us last year,”  said Hollis, who is entering his fifth season as North Jackson head coach. “We know we’re facing a really good football team. Competition breeds success. We’re going to have a better idea about ourselves Friday about 10 o’clock. We know we’re going to do some good things, we know we’re going to do some bad things. That’s why you play a jamboree. But we know it’s going to be a physical war and we’re excited to see that.”

Cherokee County has been the Class 4A state runner-up the past three seasons under head coach Jacob Kelly. The Warriors have a combined 38-7 record with three region titles during that span. 

The teams will play varsity players for the first three quarters with junior varsity players taking the field in the fourth quarter.

“I want to see us compete and be physical,” Hollis said. “We’re not holding back. We’re treating this like a real game because we’ve got to get that (real- game) experience.”

Hollis lauded the work of the North Jackson players and coaches during preseason practice, which started for the Chiefs on June 28. 

“Fall camp has been really good,” he said, “but we’re excited to break the monotony of camp this week and play somebody in a different jersey.” 

NSM vs. Spring Garden, Ranburne at Spring Garden — North Sand Mountain will play a jamboree doubleheader Friday night, traveling to Spring Garden to face the Class 1A No. 6-ranked Panthers as well as fellow 2A team Ranburne.

After Spring Garden and Ranburne scrimmage at 6 p.m., NSM will take on Ranburne at 6:45 p.m. followed by a matchup with Spring Garden at 7:30 p.m. Each scrimmage will last two quarters.

“We’re excited to get some work in against two very good opponents,” said second-year NSM head coach Jay Lipscomb. “Last year we didn’t have a jamboree and we were sloppy (in the season opener), so hopefully we can work some of the first-game messiness out in a non-counting game.”

Lipscomb said NSM players “have worked hard and responded to everything we’ve thrown at them” during preseason practice. 

“It’s always a long process and you don’t really know how it will look until you get out there against somebody else,” Lipscomb said. “It’ll be good for us to get it on film, game action, and to be able to coach off it. It’s hard to get a look vs. scout team. We’ll get to see where were are and what we’ve got to improve on.”

Lipscomb said the Bison would be “vanilla” in their play calling, mainly “just working our base stuff. I want to see us match physicality and be the most physical team on the field. And I hope we see some adversity, the having to adjust to things (opponents) may throw at us to see how our kids respond.”