Rangers

from Gridiron 2021

by Elizabethton Star

Bulldogs

Star Photo/Dawn Lambert

The 2021 Unaka High School Rangers Rangers have untapped potential to be a solid team

BY IVAN SANDERS

STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

The Unaka Rangers had a breakout season in 2020 finishing second in the region and hosting a playoff contest for the first time in a long time.

Many Ranger supporters up on Stony Creek are carrying over high expectations for this year’s squad and they have a good reason with two of the top players in Class 1-A in 2020 in wide receiver and defensive back Devin Ramsey and quarterback Landon Ramsey. Coach O’Brien Bennett welcomes those expectations but also knows that it is going to take many of the young Rangers to quickly turn their potential into results. “We always want to be raising expectations,” Bennett said. “Carter County, in general, has a lot of great football programs and the expectations for football in Carter County whether it’s Hampton, Happy Valley, Cloudland, or Elizabethton you have got high expectations for football programs. “We want to get to where we belong in the same breath with those guys and we want in the same breath consistently because they are great programs year in and year out.” Bennett said his team has looked pretty good in the summer’s Star Photo/Dawn Lambert seven-on-seven competitions with a lot of kids who have shown great

Unaka High School head coach potential. However, he added that potential only means that you O’Brien Bennett. haven’t done it yet and while improvements have been made, the

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Landon Ramsey Quarterback

Rangers still are not where they want to be.

One of the things that Bennett faces in the new season is how to replace several pieces of the puzzle that graduated in 2020.

“Our numbers are down,” stated Bennett. “We graduated a big senior class and had some juniors that elected to graduate early. We are down as far as numbers but the kids that we have out here are talented though and have a ton of potential.

“The key for us as always at the small school level is to stay injuryfree. We are just an injury or two away from a complete 180-degree change for the season and it’s tough to do that and get out here and get great reps when there are so few of us.

“That is for us to figure out as a coaching staff. We will have a lot of guys going both ways this season. That’s the reality of 1-A football. Hopefully, we can chase some kids out of the hallways.”

And while the Rangers have been working hard in the off-season to add more muscle and speed, the story won’t be told until the team hits the field for its first regular-season game of the season.

“It’s great to be bigger and stronger than we have had in the past but none of that matters until we put it on the field on Friday night,” commented Bennett.

“We want to compete every day. I tell our starters every day that my job is to fire you at the end of every day. I want some guy behind you to make me fire you and then when he takes over I want to fire him for someone else working harder behind him.

“We want to continue that competition all year long because iron sharpens iron.”

While the Rangers showed last season they are hungry to be at the top of the heap in the region, until they can consistently replicate the same outcome of 2020 they won’t be that team that teams have circled on their schedules.

“We feel like for us in-conference that we have a wide range of possibilities,” Bennett shared. “We have the potential to be pretty good and we have the potential to be pretty bad. We can’t sit there and hang our hat on what we did last year.”

The Rangers open their season at region foe North Greene on August 20th.

2021 Unaka Schedule

August

20 at North Greene* 27 CLOUDLAND*

September

3 Open 10 TWIN SPRINGS, VA 17 at Jellico* 24 HAPPY VALLEY

October

1 at Harlan, KY 8 CLAIBORNE 15 at Cosby* 22 at Hampton 29 JENKINS, KY

ALL CAPS denotes home games. * denotes region games.

2021 Unaka Rangers Football Roster

No. Name Class Position 2 TJ Thomas 10 RB/LB 3 Devin Ramsey 12 WR/DB 4 Drew Smith 12 RB/LB/OL 5 Caleb Lydick 12 WR/DB 7 Takoda Freeman 11 WR/DB 8 Johnny Douglas 11 WR/DB 11 Kaleb Gonzalez 11 WR/DB 13 Landon Ramsey 11 QB/LB 14 Jaycob Nidiffer 10 WR/DB 15 Micah Gray 9 WR/DB 20 Jamol Blamo 11 RB/LB 21 Isaiah White 10 WR/DB 23 Ryan Peters 11 RB/LB 33 Bo Markland 11 RB/LB 50 Nathan Painter 11 OL/DL 54 Aidan Peterson 10 OL/DL 55 Noah Carden 12 OL/DL 56 Matt Smith 10 OL/DL 62 Brayden Powell 10 OL/DL 63 Cody Drew 12 OL/DL 64 Tyler Smith 10 OL/DL 65 Aaron Tipton 11 OL/DL 66 Drew Smith 12 RB/LB/OL 77 Nathan Wilson 12 OL/DL 80 Marcus Shomaker 10 OL/DL 84 Daytona Denton 10 WR/DB

Head Coach - O’Brien Bennett Mascot- Rangers Colors- Maroon, White, Baby Blue Defensive Coordinator - Jake Jones, Ed Beck, Colby Jones, Austin Drew.

Star Photo/Dawn Lambert

The 2021 Unaka High School Unaka Rangers cheerleaders are (front L-R) Celeste Wilson, Madeline Markland, Kylee McCall, and Emma Davis. (back L-R) Jordan Pippen, Annie Townsend, Kanyon Tisdale, Rachael Lloyd, and Makayla Bunton.