Friday is the day we've all been waiting for since Hickory's participation in the Border Bash II was announced back in February. Now the clash of our Red Tornadoes against one of the powerhouse programs in Tennessee is upon us and it's time for Hickory to take things to a new level. The Fulton Falcons are the pre-season #1-ranked team in Tennessee's 3A classification and have played for the 3A state title in five of the past six years, winning it all in 2003, 2004 and 2006. The Falcons were runners-up last season, falling to Nashville-area powerhouse David Lipscomb by a score of 32-24. If you are just finding out about The Garnet & Gold Report I encourage you to take the time to go back and review all my previous postings about the Fulton Falcons to get a good idea of just how good this program has been over the past six years. FULTON FALCONS 2002-2007
2007: 12-3...3A Runners-up
2006: 14-1...3A State Champs
2005: 8-4
2004: 13-2...3A State Champs
2003: 14-1...3A State Champs
2002: 14-1...3A Runners-up
I also invite you to visit the Fulton Football website to learn more about the Falcons. One of the things you will learn is that Fulton High School is the home of one of only four high school radio stations in Tennessee, and is one of only a small number of high school radio broadcast stations in the country. The call letters, WKCS, were originally chosen to stand for Knoxville City Schools. The station is WKCS 91.1 FM and you will be able to listen live to the Hickory/Fulton battle. I'm not sure exactly when the covereage will start Friday night but since the event begins at 6:00 PM I would start checking it out around then. The actual 2-quarter scrimmage between the Red Tornadoes and Falcons will start approximately at 7:00.
When writing about the 2008 Fulton Falcons it's much easier to start with who they don't have on the team than it is who they have returning. The Falcons lost literally all of their starting skill position players from last year's squad.
The departed include:
1. DBs Ken Tyson, Vic Smith and Derrick Humphrey. This trio combined for 22 interceptions a season ago. And Humphrey was the team's leading receiver with 755 yards and eight TDs. Tyson and Smith contributed about 800 yards together.
2. QB Jonathan Blair: 61 percent passing, 1,714 yards and 20 TDs.
3. RB/LB Terrence Cobb: 1,448 yards rushing and 17 TDs / 11 sacks, 16 TFL
4. LB Bubba Stokes: 145 tackles, 4 sacks, 10.5 TFL, INT.
The Falcons return just three defensive and five offensive starters from last season:
DE Antwan Hamilton (6'1, 221, Jr.)
DT Devin Crawford (6'0, 229, Jr.)
LB Stephan Matthews (5'11, 181, Jr.)
TE Ben Winters (5'11, 184, So.)
RT Mychal Cason (6'1, 229, So.)
RG Matthew Blasco (6'0, 276, Sr.)
C Vincent Johnson (6'7, 251 Sr.)
LG Jarius Johnson (6'2, 263, Jr.)
Some other names to listen for in Friday's contest include:
RB Demetrius Thomas (5'10, 173, So.)
WR Micah Pitchford (6'0, 172, So.)
WR Jemichael Williams (5'10, 173, Sr.)
RB Jerron Brown (5'10, 174, So.)
RB Marco Golliday (6'0, 176, Jr.)
TE Khiry Riddles (6'2, 216, So.)
RB Bart Satterfield (5'10, 180, So.)
WR Xavier Bridges (5'8, 143, Jr.)
WR Antonio Barfield (5'11, 161, Jr.)
Sophomore Ben Winters, the starter at tight end last season, got in a few snaps last season while Jonathan Blair was hurt. Winters led Fulton to a win against Tyner by completing eight of 17 passes for three touchdowns, 153 yards and three TDs. He performed well this summer during the Nike 7-on-7 tournament held at the University of Tennessee.
One of Winters' favorite targets during the Nike competition was senior Courtland Styles (6'3 200), a talented wide receiver and free safety who transferred in from Knoxville's Central High School. Styles, who is also an outstanding basketball player, was All-Region for Central in 2007. If the Falcons try to throw the football then Styles could join Micah Pitchford as a prime target.
Another thing to expect from Fulton is that they will use a lot of players both ways during the contest. For the most part the players listed above will be the names you hear called on defense as well as offense. This is similar to what Hickory does but more extreme. In this aspect Fulton reminds me a lot of Burns.
Fulton has been practicing in pads since July 28th and will have scrimmaged at least three times prior to the Border Bash. It will be interesting to see if the headstart they have had on Hickory will be enough to overcome the youth and inexperience of the Falcons. The coaches of Tennessee have marked Fulton as #1. We're going to find out what exactly that means on Friday night.
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