PREP: Vikings out man Patriots in opener

BY SPENCER CAMPBELL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

BLUFF CITY, Tenn. – Tennessee High’s Keenan Shepard says that he and his ailing knee are at about 75 percent. That’s a scary proposition for Vikings opponents when, and if, the senior running back returns to full health.

Shepard and his gimpy joint scored four rushing touchdowns and accumulated 114 yards on the ground in Tennessee High’s season-opening 39-7 win at Sullivan East in a non-conference game.

The win keeps the Vikings perfect against the Patriots, who have yet to record a win over their Weaver Pike rivals since becoming a school in the late 1960s. (Tennessee High was forced to vacate a win over Sullivan East in the late 1990s.)

After the first half, it looked as if the Patriots might have a chance at that elusive first win, with the score tied 7-7. But Shepard exerted his will, carrying the ball five straight times to begin the second half – his fifth attempt landing him in the end zone on a 27-yard scamper.

Shepard carried the ball 10 times in the third quarter for 84 yards and three touchdowns.

“The coach was mad at us [at halftime]. I don’t like to see coach [Greg] Stubbs upset,” Shepard said. “He does a lot for me, so I’ve got to show the love back to him.

“We wasn’t going hard. We had to bring it, because they were bringing it, and we broke their will that second half.”

As a team, the Vikings carried the ball 23 times after halftime for 230 rushing yards.

It was a far cry from the first 24 minutes, when Tennessee High (1-0) managed 99 yards on 11 carries. The Vikings’ lone score in the first half came on Shepard’s 10-yard run following a Sullivan East fumble deep in their own territory.

“We came into the game with that in mind – run the football,” Stubbs said. “And then we didn’t do it. We tried to throw a little bit, and we weren’t able to do that. We didn’t have any consistency, the first half.

“The second half, we came out and gave the ball to Keenan. Keenan made his run or two, got us on the board and got the [momentum]. And we played on the [momentum] the second have.”

That momentum did belong to Sullivan East, until halftime.

Although the Patriots star running back Caleb Looney, who would leave the game in the second half due to injury, was unable to get loose in the first half, senior quarterback Chase Depew torched the Tennessee High secondary for 96 yards in the first half.

But it was Looney’s 65-yard halfback pass to John Ryan at the start of the second quarter that enabled the Patriots to draw first blood. Ryan finished the first half with six receptions for 139 yards.

Despite the Patriots’ efforts, injuries against the bigger, deeper Vikings were too numerous for Sullivan East (1-1) to overcome.

“We came out, played like world-beaters the first half,” East coach Ralph Nelson said. “Eventually they just wore us down, and they were obviously trying to score every point they could score with their No. 1s. What can we do? We were dropping like flies. I think there were four series when we had a makeshift group of guys. We couldn’t even get a punt team together.

“Both sides played hard and our guys played the best they could.”

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Tennessee High 0 7 25 7–39
Sullivan East 0 7 0 0–7
Scoring Summary
SE – Ryan 65 pass from Looney (Suder kick)
TH – Shepard 10 run (Graham kick)
TH – Shepard 27 run (kick fail)
TH – C. Howard 50 run (kick fail)
TH – Shepard 8 run (pass fail)
TH – Shepard 3 run (Graham kick)
TH – Simmons 21 run (Graham kick)
Team Stats
First Downs: TH 15, SE 9. Rushes-Yards: TH 34-329, SE 35-73; Passing Yards: TH 97, SE 192; Comp.-Att.-Int.: TH 6-18-2, SE 10-18-3; Fumbles-Lost: TH 1-1, SE 3-2; Penalties-Yards: TH 5-45, SE 6-57; Punts-Average: TH 4-35.3, SE 6-29.8