D-B Entertains Limping Morristown West in Home Finale
by STEVE WILMOTH
TriCitiesSports.com
October 19, 2017
Dobyns-Bennett will honor its seniors and face Morristown West in the regular season home finale Friday night.
The Indians hope it’s not their last appearance of the year at J. Fred Johnson Stadium.
The Indians are tied for first place in the loss column in the Big East Conference standings with Farragut and Science Hill. Both the Admirals and the ‘Toppers play their final league contests Friday night. One must lose for the Indians to sneak into one of the top two playoff seeds.
“It’s a good place to be,” said Dobyns-Bennett coach Graham Clark. “We aren’t looking ahead to that right now because we face a very good Morristown West team Friday night.”
It’s a Trojan squad that has been decimated by injury. Top of the list is prized senior quarterback John Foreback who injured a knee late in the third quarter of the season-opener against Morristown East.
Earlier in the game, Foreback had become the first Trojan in school history to throw for over 3000 yards in a career and finished last season with 1727 yards passing and 16 touchdowns.
Among those schools offering thus far are Austin-Peay, Ball State, Columbia, Mercer, Liberty, Chattanooga, and Dartmouth.
“I’m sure they are happy to have Foreback back,” added Clark. “He’s a big, tall, gun-slinger who throws it very well.”
While Foreback has been back in action a couple of weeks, he’s clearly not the same added Clark. He will also hang tough in the pocket to take downfield shots on occasion.
“He's not as mobile, I don't think, as he was," continued Clark. "Still, we have to get some pressure on him, not let him stand back in the pocket,” said Clark. “He just missed on some deep balls and slants last week against Science Hill.
“We saw him complete those balls last year and before he got hurt, so we know how he can play when he’s totally healthy and he’ll be closer to the this week than he was last week.”
The leading receivers are Colton Misenheimer who has 17 receptions for 251 yards and Brian Stewart who has 16 catches for 191 yards. Both have a pair of touchdowns.
On the ground, Jacob Harrell has 710 yards and six scores. Jadon Payne also has six rushing touchdowns with 228 yards. Zack Young, Foreback’s replacement, racked up 243 yards in his starts.
“They have some speed at the receiver position and Harrell runs with a lot of heart,” noted Clark.
Up front, the Trojans have lost four offensive linemen due to injury.
“They’ve had some really bad luck, but they still have some good size in the offensive line,” said Clark. “They will use a lot of formations to you have to make sure you get all the right adjustments made.”
Defensively, two interior defensive linemen have gone down. The leading tackler for the Trojans is junior defensive end Sejdi Oruglica who has 85 tackles, nine tackles for loss, four quarterback sacks and three forced fumbles. Senior Logan Shaffer starts opposite Oruglica and has 37 total tackles.
“Another good pair of hat readers,” Clark said. “They’ll see you trying to reach on the edge and fight you with their hands.”
Junior Matty Salansky and sophomore C.J. Livesay are the inside linebackers. Salansky has 56 tackles and Livesay 44 takedowns.
“They use a lot of players on defense, but the two defensive ends and two inside linebackers stay on the field all the time,” added Clark.
Clark also says the Indians will also have to be aware of 6-4 junior Jamal Spradling at weakside linebacker. Also, seem to have settled in at the cornerback spots recently.
“Spradling is perhaps the most athletic player on their team,” continued Clark. “He can run, is disruptive in the short game with his height. The cornerback position has not changed much the last couple of weeks.”
Elsewhere the defensive personnel comes from situational football.
“They bring in a couple of guys in short yardage situations, have used a lot of combinations in the secondary,” noted Clark.
Against Science Hill, senior Davis Connelly, the normal starter at strong safety, moved up to outside linebacker.
“They might have been trying to counter Science Hill’s athleticism,” explained Clark. “I don’t know if we’ll get that same look”
Clark said the Trojans are typically a four-man front, but have gone with some five with Livesay bumping up.
“Their defensive line uses excellent technique,” continued Clark. “They don’t come at you with a lot of blitzes, but will disguise it well when they do.”
The Indians appear to have a solid advantage in special teams.
West place-kicker Juan Villasenor is a perfect 23-for-23 on extra points and 3-for-6 on field goals with a long of 43 yards, but two misses inside 30 yards. Connelly averages 34.6 yards per punt with a long of 54 yards and five inside the 20-yard line. On kickoffs, Villasenor averages just 48.3 yards and has zero touchbacks on 32 attempts on the season.
Matthew Hayes does average 24.6 yards per kickoff return and 12 attempts and Colton Misenheimer 16.5 yards on eight tries. The Trojans have only six punt returns all season for just 22 yards, a 3.7 yard average. Meanwhile, the opposition has averaged 15.6 yards per punt return.
PLAYOFF RAMIFICATIONS. Should Farragut, Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett all win out, Farragut will be the top seed by virtue of what would be 9 overall wins with Science Hill second with 8 overall victories. The Indians would be third in the pecking order with 7 wins … Should Farragut lose to Hardin Valley and Science Hill and D-B win out, the ‘Toppers would be the one and the Tribe the two … Should Science Hill stumble against Jefferson County and Farragut and D-B win out, the Indians would be the top seed, Farragut second and Science Hill third.
D-B STATS. Officiall,y junior Ian Hicks compiled 186 yards rushing at Hardin Valley last week, putting him over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Hicks now has 1919 career rushing yards on just 260 attempts, a career average of 7.4 yards per carry.
Hicks is the first Dobyns-Bennett rusher with over 1000 yards in a season since Jacoby Thompson (1178) in 2014.
Nic Bristol has added 381 yards on 62 attempts and Keyo Taylor 261 yards on 48 tries.
Junior quarterback Lendon Redwine is on pace to join Duran Ferguson and Skylar East as the only D-B quarterbacks to throw over 2000 yards in a season. Redwine has completed 105-of-176 passes for 1630 yards.
Dee Williams and Matt Diminick are the top receivers with 24 catches each. Williams has five touchdown receptions.
The Indian offensive line of Dawson Pierson, Bradyn Buckles, Nick Starke, Drew Christian and Cade Salyers along with tight end Nathan Harding have combined for 108 blocks leading to touchdowns and 114 knockdown blocks.
Isaiah Jayne now leads the Tribe defense with 72 tackles. Jet Harris is next with 69, which includes a team-high eight tackles for loss and co-team leading five quarterback sacks. Corey Sexton also has five sacks and five tackles for loss as part of his 64 tackles. Caleb Whetsell and Williams have five pass break-ups while Diminick has picked off four passes.
HARD KNOX. The 36-25 win over the Hawks was the third straight for the Indians over the Knoxville area with two coming on the road. The streak started at Bearden and continued two weeks ago against Farragut.
“That’s pretty special with all the athletes down there,” noted Clark. “We don’t out-athlete very many teams. We play smart and we play hard and that’s what we’ve done the last three weeks.”
FALL BREAK. Both teams have been on fall break this week. Although Clark doesn’t put a lot of stock into the abnormal week, he did attempt to reverse a recent trend.
“We practiced in the mornings the last two years over fall break and we lost both times,” noted Clark. “So we did not practice in the morning this week until Thursday. The first three days were all normal practice start times of 3:20.”
Clark said fall break is yet another thing a coach can fret about.
“Coaches can always find something to be concerned about,” said Clark. “I sometimes wonder if Billy had a fight with his girlfriend Sally this week.
“You just have to go out and play. I can’t do anything about Fall Break or Senior Night. We just have to practice them well and put them in position to win a football game.”
SENIOR NIGHT. The D-B senior class will be recognized individually before the game.
“Senior Night is emotional for our guys,” said Clark. “And this is a very special senior class to me. I do enjoy when Christian Edwards and our equipment manager Barry Williams sing ‘What’s Made Milwaukee Famous had made a fool out of me.’
I want this season with these seniors to last as long as it can. I’m not ready for it to end.”
SERIES NOTES. The meeting is just the seventh between the two schools and the first since 1990…It’s also the first regular season game since October 19, 1984…The Tribe leads the series, 5-1, but West won the most recent, 18-15, in the first round of the playoffs in 1990…D-B coach Graham Clark has never coached against Morristown West… Dobyns-Bennett has played Morristown East 21 times and faced Morristown High School 22 times before the split after the 1968 season.
COACHES NOTES. Alvin Sanders (3-5) is in his first year as head coach at Morristown West. The 36-year-old former Carson-Newman Eagle was tabbed to take over the Trojans when Lamar Brown departed for Knox West. Brown went 71-34 in nine seasons at Morristown West after taking over for Don Woods. Sanders was an assistant under Brown … Coach Graham Clark is celebrating his 25th year as head coach of the Indians and 36th overall at Dobyns-Bennett … Clark is 249-70 overall and 230-67 at Dobyns-Bennett.
This is the 1050th game in Dobyns-Bennett football history (779-242-28) … The game may be heard on ESPN Tri-Cities (94.3 FM, 1400 AM) and espntricities.com. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
EXPECTED STARTERS
MORRISTOWN WEST (3-5, 1-3)
Offense
LT - 74 Dylan Ellis, 6-3, 295
LG - 51 Garrett Jenny, 6-1, 235, JR
C - 53 Jacob Green, 5-10, 210, SO
RG - 70 Aaron Hess, 6-1, 270, SR
RT - 72 Dallas Dawson, 6-3, 261, JR
QB - 8 John Foreback, 6-3, 223, SR
RB - 14 Jacob Harrell, 5-10, 175, SR
WR - 7 Brian Stewart, 5-10, 165, JR
WR - 24 Grant Misenheimer, 6-1, 170, SR
SLOT - 27 Drew Cartwright, 5-10, 211, SR
SLOT - 6 Colton Misenheimer, 5-11, 164, SR
Defense
DE - 30 Sejdi Oruglica, 5-10, 243, JR
DT - 69 Blake Greenlee, 6-0, 241, SR
DT - 55 Zach Hubbard, 6-0, 220, SR
DE - 21 Logan Shaffer, 6-1, 220, SR
WLB - 11 Jamal Spradling, 6-4, 205, JR
MLB - 28 Matthew Salansky, 5-10, 217, JR
SLB - 42 C.J. Livesay, 5-10, 224, SO
CB - 6 Colton Misenheimer, 5-11, 164, SR
CB - 20 Mason McDaniel, 5-10, 180, JR
SS - 16 Davis Connelly, 5-10, 165, SR
FS - 24 Grant Misenheimer, 6-1,170, JR
Special Teams
PR - 6 Colton Misenheimer, 5-11, 164, SR
PR - 24 Grant Misenheimer, 6-1, 160, JR
KR - 40 Matthew Hayes, 6-0, 181, SR
KR - 6 Colton Misenheimer, 5-11, 164, SR
PK - 96 Juan Villasenor, 5-8, 150, SO
P - 16 Davis Connelly, 5-10, 165, SR
DOBYNS-BENNETT (5-3, 3-1)
Offense
LT – 77 Dawson Pierson, 6-3, 255, SR
LG – 75 Bradyn Buckles, 6-1, 255, SR
C – 72 Nick Starke, 6-4, 290, JR
RG – 78 Cade Salyers, 6-3, 290, SR
RT – 55 Drew Christian, 6-3, 260, SR
QB – 13 Lendon Redwine, 6-5, 200, JR
RB – 30 Ian Hicks, 5-10, 206, JR
WR – 28 Matt Diminick, 6-1, 155, SR
WR – 5 Dee Williams, 5-10, 170, SR
SLOT – 27 Jacob Strange, 5-10, 170, SR
TE – 11 Nathan Harding, 6-1, 210, SR
Defense
DE – 77 Dawson Pierson, 6-3, 255, SR
NT – 59 Noah Davis, 6-4, 295, JR
DE – 50 Logan Greenway, 5-11, 220, JR
OLB – 25 Seven Smith, 5-11, 180, SR
ILB – 48 Isaiah Jayne, 6-1, 225, SR
ILB – 46 Corey Sexton, 6-0, 180, SR
OLB – 14 Jet Harris, 6-0, 180, SO
CB – 28 Matt Diminick, 6-1, 155, SR
CB – 5 Dee Williams, 5-9, 160, SR
S – 27 Jacob Strange, 5-10, 170, SR
S – 2 Caleb Whetsell, 5-9, 160, SR
Special Teams
SNAP – 51 Frank Waudewitz, 6-2, 270, SR
PK – 22 Drew Miller, 5-9, 160, SR
P – 22 Drew Miller, 5-9, 160, SR
KR – 5 Dee Williams, 5-9, 160, SR
28 – Matt Diminick, 6-1, 155, SR