Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
The 2021 Hampton High School Bulldogs
Bulldogs expectations are higher than ever in 2021 BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
H
ampton was so close to reaching Cookeville in 2020 but a road trip to Meigs County where the Bulldogs came up just a few plays short brought an end to that dream. The Bulldogs, however, have returned to the field in 2021 with the same dream in tow and that is to play in the state championship game. A good starting point for this team will be to take care of business until they get another shot at South Greene in week seven as both teams are expected to hold a high position in the Class A polls throughout. “South Greene’s a good football team and they are number one until proven otherwise,” said Hampton head coach Michael Lunsford. “We have to work every day to top that. “Hopefully, they understand that we have five games and a bye week before we play them so there is a lot of football to go before then. Absolutely that will be a big game but it will be a big game in week seven and not now.” What has been challenging for the Bulldog head coach is finding non-conference games to play as the TSSAA realignments have made it more troublesome for all coaches to fill a 10-game slate. “It made it really hard how they did the districting and the conference realignments, it made it hard to find seven out-of-conference games, and then you have teams in the area that don’t want to play so it puts you in a bind and you have to play up and you have to do the best you can to find 10 games because it’s more important for me for these boys to play 10 games than anything else,” Lunsford stated. Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton also once again is blessed to have an abundance of Hampton High School head linemen that will provide the depth needed upfront to keep the coach Michael Lunsford. trench players fresh. Lunsford believes that this group of young 20
Conor Jones Quarterback
