Cubs kick off with wins
By Sam Waller
The Albany Junior High Cubs kicked off the football season with a pair of victories Thursday, Aug. 31, at Dublin.
The seventh grade won 38-14 with the eighth grade winning 36-22.
A combined seventh/eighth grade team will play this week at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7 at Seymour.
Coaches Ryder Peacock and Tate Thompson are working with both grades, which each have just enough players to put 11 on the field with one or two substitutes. Thompson is handling the offense, with Peacock tutoring the defense.
Seventh Grade
At Dublin, Albany seventh graders overcame an early deficit as Dublin took the opening drive to score and returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
Lyle Wheeler ran for three scores and passed for a fourth to lead the Cubs offense.
“Just lining up right and going the right direction is usually a victory,” Thompson said. “The fact that the seventh grade was able to put up that many points was a plus.”
Wheeler’s 60-yard run was converted with a pass to Levi Murphy.
Albany took the lead for good when Blake Britting scored on a 10-yard run and Slayton Parsons ran for the conversion.
Wheeler added a 9-yard TD run and passed to Sam Tidwell for the conversion.
Parsons caught a 2-yard TD pass, then Wheeler ran 26 yards for the last score, connecting with Parsons for the conversion.
Peacock said the defense improved as the game progressed.
“This was our first live action for tackling, and it took us some time to adjust,” he said, “but I thought the guys did a good job of figuring it out. We came up with two turnovers on fumble recoveries by Jathan Perez and Trevor Bellah.”
Eighth Grade
Clay Chapman and Bennett Neece combined for four touchdowns. Chapman also ran for three conversions.
“This is a good group,” Thompson said. “They were able to do some good things.”
Jakobi Roberson opened the scoring with a 46-yard run, then Neece scored on a 25-yard TD run.
After Chapman scored on a 42-yard run, he connected with Neece for a 34-yard TD pass.
Chapman scored again on a 44-yard run.
Lack of depth and fatigue took a toll late in the game.
“Defensively we did a good job overall,” Peacock said. “Right now playing with 13 guys, it’s tough as guys are playing every snap, and you could tell we were running low on energy.”
Albany had three takeaways with Aiden Vickers recovering a kickoff and Slayten Kelly and Chapman intercepting passes.
“Slayten picked up right where he left off last year with another interception,” Peacock said. “ Going into the game, we knew they had us outsized, but our guys kept sticking their noses in there and did a good job of playing aggressively.”
