It wasn’t a perfect jamboree and only “practice” according to Carroll Academy coach Bo Milton.But Milton had to be smiling just a little bit after beating Class AAAA East Rankin 13-8 and losing 14-7 to Class AAA Leake Academy.
“I was very pleased,” Milton said. “When you are playing bigger teams like that, you want to see how your team stacks up. It was a glorified practice but I thought we got a lot out of it. I thought we did a good job of running the football. I thought we got some good experience.”
Against East Rankin, the Rebels punched in two touchdowns and took a 13-8 win. Jeb Beck scored on a 3-yard run and Hunter Brackeen scored on a 5-yard run.
“It is supposed to simulate game situations and that was a plus,” Milton said. “I thought the effort was good. I thought we were consistent on offense. We had two good drives against East Rankin and a good drive against Leake.”
Against Leake, the Rebels put together an 18-play scoring drive, converting several fourth downs along the way.
“The biggest thing we got out of it was some confidence,” Milton said. “We ran the ball on a AAAA school and a AAA school. I was pleased with our drive against Leake. We answered the way I wanted us to answer a score. We converted two fourth downs on the drive. I got what I expected out of Jeb Beck and I was pleased with Hunter Brackeen. He ran hard for a 140-pound kid. But that goes back to our like, they played well. I still feel like we can be better than were were in the jamboree.”
Milton said he was glad to see the Rebels taking on the identity of the I-formation.
“I was pleased with that drive against Leake,” Milton said. “We watched the film and saw some things we have to get better at. We have got to get nastier but overall, there were more positives and negatives. I thought Morgan handled the quarterback position pretty well. Morgan made a great throw on the touchdown against Leake.”
The Rebels will travel to Benton Academy for the season opener. The Raiders went 2-8 last season. The two teams did not play last year.
“There are always a lot of unknowns in the first game,” Milton said. “Special teams will come into play and it’s hard to do live stuff. You just pray that it goes well. You hope they handle the first-team jitters. It’s always going to come down to who gets that second wind first. Whoever comes back the quickest can put the hammer back down.”
