Bulldogs

from Gridiron 2021

by Elizabethton Star

Longhorns

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

Hampton 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.

Hampton also once again is blessed to have an abundance of linemen that will provide the depth needed upfront to keep the trench players fresh. Lunsford believes that this group of young

Star Photo/Ivan Sanders

Hampton High School head coach Michael Lunsford. Conor Jones Quarterback

August

20 PIGEON FORGE 27 JOHNSON COUNTY

September

3 AVERY COUNTY 10 at Cloudland 17 at Happy Valley* 24 Open

October

1 SOUTH GREENE* 8 at Gatlinburg-Pittman 15 at Cumberland Gap* 22 UNAKA 29 at Daniel Boone

ALL CAPS denotes home games. * denotes region games.

men will be the strength of the team and with their size, they won’t be facing to have to play every snap of the game to keep them rested.

On the offensive side of the football, Lunsford is looking to maintain a balanced approach for the new season.

“I think probably how well we can throw the football and how much balance we can achieve will be the key offensively,” stated Lunsford. “This is a team that we feel like we have a little bit more of an opportunity to spread it around and throw the football and do some things like that which we don’t always have the athletes to do.

“We feel like we do have the opportunity to do that and so how good we can do that will determine how good we can be.”

On defense, Coach Lunsford is looking to bring the pressure to their opponent’s offense forcing the offense to do what Lunsford wants them to do instead of being forced to adjust to what the opponent is doing.

Much of that relies on putting the Bulldog defenders in situations to take away what their opponent does well.

With the Bulldogs forced to play some larger schools, the ultimate concern is making sure that the players do the things needed to stay away from injury. Hampton lost the services of senior Morgan Lyons early in the preseason due to a broken ankle and for Hampton to be successful, they must keep injuries at a minimum.

“When you are playing up, kids get hurt when they get tired,” commented Lunsford. “The important thing is to make sure that we have fresh people on the field at all times to where we don’t get those kids in those situations where they can’t play hard where they can get hurt.

Hampton opens up its season on August 20th against Pigeon Forge at home.

No. Name Class Ht. Wt. Position 1 Johnathan Greenwell 11 6’0” 190 WR/LB 2 Caleb Royston 12 5’11 180 WR/CB 3 Michael Harrison 12 6’3 175 K/WR 4 Conor Jones 12 6’0 175 QB/FS 5 Geno Carrico 10 5’10 180 TE/LB 6 Collin Morgan 12 6’1 225 TE/DE 7 Tyler Thompson 12 6’1 150 WR/FS 9 Levi Lunsford 11 5’9 215 TB/LB/WR 10 Ty McElyea 11 6’0” 200 TB/LB 11 Chance Point 10 6’1 160 WR/CB 13 Hunter Dejoode 9 5’3 115 WR/CB 15 Broady Hicks 11 5’10 175 WR/CB 16 Elijah Mckinney 10 5’9 140 WR/CB 18 Dylan Trivett 10 6’1 160 QB/FS/WR 20 Logan Brochu 9 5’10 145 WR/CB 23 Grayson Young 10 5’11 210 FB/LB 24 Morgan Lyons 12 6’2 205 LB/RB 25 J.J. MCelyea 10 5’9 140 WR/CB 28 Corey Mckinney 11 5’6 150 WR/FS 34 Justin Arnold 9 5’8 145 FB/LB 39 Carter Verdon 10 5’7 140 WR/LB 47 Evan Mann 11 6’2 160 WR/DB 48 Ryan Crumley 12 5’9 230 FB/LB No. Name Class Ht. Wt. Position 49 Ashton Hardin 12 6’2 205 TE/LB 52 Andon Winters 12 6’4 270 OT/DE 53 Austin Bentley 11 6’0 200 OG/DE 55 Collin Morgan 12 6’3 250 OG/DE 57 Mason Wilson 11 6’3 220 FB/TE/DE 58 Chris Berry 9 5’9 190 FB/TE/DE 60 Greg Tolley 10 5’11 240 OG/DE 61 Jonah Boling 10 5’11 220 OG/DE 63 Bryson Law 9 5’11 230 OT/DT 64 Shayden Oliver 10 5’9 205 C/OG 67 Will Thorton 10 6’1 300 OT/DT 68 Bryson Montgomery 9 5’6 315 OT/NT 71 Devin Ward 11 6’0 285 G/DT 72 Zach Beam 12 6’2 310 C/DT 74 Nathan Weatherbee 12 6’3 370 OT/DT 78 Mckinley Kuhn 12 6’2 365 OT/DT 82 Hank Parlier 10 6’0 145 WR/FS 84 Mason Ford 11 5’10 140 WR/FS

Head Coach: Michael Lunsford

Mascot: Bulldogs

Colors: Blue and White

Star Photo/Ivan Sanders

The 2021 Hampton High School cheerleaders are (front L-R) Izzy Bowers, Kylie Odom, and Kyndal Scalf. (middle L-R) Jessa Hampton, Briley Curtis, Shania Pierce, Makayla Burleson, Chloe Bradley, Cheyenne Fair, Allison Bowers, and Reagan Ashley. (back L-R) Sydney Covington, Hannah Smith, Anna Hatley, Briley Davis, Emma Harmon, Lauren Hyder, Amber Gilbert, Marina Bailey, Keagan Campbell, Lacey Taylor.