By ADAM WELCH
pressbox1.com

ATWOOD - The West Carroll Junior War Eagles gave the middle school Red Devils a smashmouth battle during the scrimmage.

The visiting Red Devils, however, topped West Carroll 4-1 in the pre-season skirmish. South Fulton's coach was pleased with his team's performance.

“Today was good for us because we had some scrimmages last week against some opponents that were not as strong as West Carroll so this was good for us to face a team that’s going to hit us in the mouth every play and they are really aggressive,” said South Fulton Middle School Head Coach Jeremy McFarland.

McFarland and the Red Devils look to improve on their near-perfect 2007 season with many returning starters. He also is excited about the number of players that he has on the team.

“This is the largest group that I’ve ever coached as we have forty-four players on the roster this season, including sixth graders," he said.

“We’re really excited,” said McFarland, “we were 7-1 last season and won our county conference, claiming the Obion County championship. We’ve lost only five players from last year’s team. The majority of the first-team offense and defense today were starters last year as well.”

McFarland commented on some of his returning talent by stating, “We’ve got a couple that stand out. J.P. Fowler (fullback) and our two wings Lewis and James, they have a little more speed and aggressiveness. Those are three, gutsy kids that don’t mind hitting, running the ball, and defensively they are three of our top hitters also. We’re looking at those three guys as our leaders on both sides of the football. Our quarterback, Clay Garmin, didn’t play a lot today but he’s also a second-year starter and will add some depth as well as leadership to our team. Our offensive line has six of the seven starters returning from last year as well, so we’re returning some experience on both sides of the ball. We’re looking for those guys to have a solid performance for us all season.”

The Junior War Eagles’ starting defense gave up one score against the veteran team as West Carroll held their own. Head Coach Wade Maddox was well pleased with the overall team effort against South Fulton.

“I thought we did a pretty good job. We were really physical and moved people off the line of scrimmage. We were getting seven or eight yards per carry out there,” said Maddox.“I think our guys were real physical today and we hit some people. Jamal Glenn, Latrell Huff, and Jacob Wynn stood out today with their performances along with the line.”

“I was pleased with the scrimmage," Maddox said. "I think that our guys gave great effort on the field today. I expect our team to improve during the jamboree at McKenzie and I think that we’ll have a pretty good season.”