North Murray High School Mountaineers

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  • Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen North Murray’s Brady Swilling knocks down a pass intended for Model receiver Kaleb Woods during their scrimmage on Friday night at Mountaineer Stadium. The varsity played three quarters in the game, which North Murray won 17-13.

    Model at NM scrim 1 mlh.jpg

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August 18, 2012

Prep football: Gann likes rallying spirit shown by North Murray

Devin Golden devingolden@daltoncitizen.com

CHATSWORTH — North Murray football coach David Gann hopes any mistakes his team made in Friday night’s preseason scrimmage against Model, including composure ones, stay in the preseason.

One thing he’d like to see carry over is the final result.

North Murray beat the Blue Devils 17-13 at Mountaineer Stadium — varsity played three quarters and the scoreboard was reset when younger players took the field — after the lead changed hands four times. The JV teams played the fourth quarter, which included each team’s offense having the ball for six minutes regardless of downs or scores.

With Model ahead 13-10 in the third quarter, senior quarterback Brady Swilling broke a 21-yard run and looked to be taking it to the end zone before he collided with his own offensive lineman and fumbled into the Blue Devils’ hands. After North Murray’s defense held, Swilling ran the same speed option call on the first play and this time took it 65 yards for the winning score.

“Same play call, but just the other side,” Swilling said.

In the first half, Model took a 7-3 lead with 8:19 left in the second quarter after quarterback Cameron O’Neal found V.J. Saxton for a 10-yard touchdown pass. On the following North Murray drive, which took 7:40 off the clock, things got heated.

After a short run by senior Christian Bukle, Model linebacker James Brown and senior linebacker/tight end Jared Campbell got into a scuffle in which punches were thrown. Both players were ejected from the game.

After the game, Campbell talked to his team about the incident.

“I just told them it was an impulsive decision on my part, and it wasn’t smart,” he said. “It was impulsive and it hurts the team, because I am the captain.”

Gann said he did not know if Campbell would be suspended for the season opener against Southeast Whitfield on Aug. 31 since the game was just a scrimmage and not in the regular season. Usually under GHSA rules, if a player is ejected, he must sit out the remainder of the game plus the following contest.

After the ejections, Gann brought his entire team together to speak to them. Just four plays later, Swilling found senior running back Jacob Mays for a 20-yard touchdown with 39.2 seconds left to give North Murray a 10-7 halftime lead.

“A scrimmage obviously is a learning process, and I brought them all up and showed them what happens when you retaliate or there’s a scuffle or something,” Gann said. “I wanted them to learn their lesson, and they did. I’m very disappointed it happened, but I’m happy it happened (before the regular season).”

Gann also was displeased with other mistakes. North Murray had drops on three straight passing plays and three fumbles, losing two of them. However, the coach was still pleased with his team’s rallies.

“Two or three times we got down, and there weren’t any heads that hung,” Gann said. “Those are the things I did like — how we competed.”

Swilling finished 4 of 8 passing for 66 yards and ran for 119. Mays ran for 68 yards on 10 carries and had three receptions for 46 yards.

Junior linebacker John Chastain recorded five tackles and a fumble recovery in the end zone on Model’s first possession.

Model running back Jamal Milligan had 47 yards on seven carries, 40 yards receiving and a score.

In the fourth quarter, Mountaineers freshman Drake McCowan reeled off two 65-yard touchdown runs and added a 30-yard run.

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North Murray High School Mountaineers

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