Several Shelby County football players recently got a chance to go helmet-to-helmet with someone other than teammates at jamborees across the county.

Shelby County, Montevallo, Calera and Vincent high schools participated in a jamboree, along with Isabella, at VHS last Thursday night.

SCHS kicked off the festivities with a two-quarter game against Isabella. The Wildcats defeated Isabella 17-7 in the scrimmage.

&uot;I thought we played fairly well,&uot; Shelby County head coach Geoff Walters said. &uot;Of course, we made some mistakes, but it was a jamboree. That’s what they’re for &045; to see what you’re doing wrong and iron out some of the wrinkles before the regular season starts.&uot;

Eric Hernandez put the Wildcats on top 3-0 in the first quarter with a 32-yard field goal. Marc Lemley added to that lead with a 5-yard touchdown run later in the quarter. Hernandez tacked on the PAT to give SCHS a 10-0 lead.

Isabella cut the lead to 10-7 in the second quarter with a touchdown of their own.

Lemley put the game away with a 25-yard scoring run later in the second quarter. Hernandez’ PAT made the final 17-7.

The Wildcats will open the regular season at home Friday night with a matchup against 3A power Tarrant, who lost to eventual state champion T.R. Miller in the playoffs a year ago.

&uot;Tarrant is a good team,&uot; Walters said. &uot;This won’t be anything like a jamboree. Our boys will have to strap up and come to play Friday night.&uot;

Next on the agenda the Calera Eagles played host Vincent in a one-quarter matchup.

&uot;It’s really hard to tell anything in just one quarter,&uot; CHS head coach Ken Adams said. &uot;That’s not hardly enough time to tell whether your team is doing things right or not.&uot;

The Eagles came out victorious, 14-7. Calera took the early lead when Terry Green scored on a 12-yard run. The PAT was no good, giving CHS a 6-0 lead. The score capped a 70-yard, 5-play drive. The score was set up by a 50-yard run by Paul Delbridge.

Vincent took the lead with three minutes left after capping a 65-yard drive. The score was set up by a reverse pass play which went for big yardage. Yowe scored on a 9-yard run and the PAT gave the Yellow Jackets a 7-6 lead.

The Eagles got the winning score on a 1-yard Jay Haynes run. Haynes also ran in the 2-point conversion to give the Eagles the 14-7 win. The score was set up when C.J. Pearson connected with Delbridge on a 32-yard pass play.

Calera next played Montevallo for one quarter in a defensive battle which ended deadlocked at 0-0.

&uot;We came out and had total communication failure across the front,&uot; Adams said. &uot;On one play, both of our guards pulled and ran into each other behind the center. On another play our tackle completely missed a block to the side which our quarterback was rolling and we took a 10-yard loss on a sack.

&uot;We just did not look very sharp offensively,&uot; Adams continued. &uot;But, Montevallo came out and stuck it to us. They were flying all over the field and hitting us hard, and I was glad to see our boys not lay down.&uot;

Adams was proud of the way the Eagle defense played.

&uot;We played pretty good on that side of the ball,&uot; Adams said. &uot;I can see that we need some more work conditioning and we made some mistakes that hopefully we can correct and not make again. Coach (Ken) Copen said it best when he said ‘everybody who walked off the bus walked back on.’ That’s the key to a jamboree &045; keeping everyone healthy.&uot;

The Bulldogs defeated Vincent 7-0 in the last game of the night in a one-quarter affair.

The Montevallo defense, according to MHS stat keepers, allowed Vincent 21 yards total offense (including a 23-yard pass completion) and allowed Calera minus-2 yards total offense.

&uot;The kids came off the field very excited, saying, ‘It works, coach, all the hard work and discipline.’ It was a relief to me that the kids could see that the hard work, so far, is worth the time.

&uot;I know we are a 4A school and Vincent and Calera are 2A schools, and I’m not sure exactly what, if anything, that has to do with our performance the other night,&uot; King continued. &uot;But whatever the circumstances, I came away and so did the team and the coaching staff, feeling good about our performance.&uot;

Calera opens the season on the road at Verbena Friday night at 7 p.m. Vincent will play against in-county rival Chelsea Thursday night at Vincent, and Montevallo will open the season Friday night at Leeds.

Cornerstone Christian and Coosa Valley Academy participated in a jamboree with Jefferson Christian, Chambers and Autauga Academy at Cornerstone last Friday night.

Cornerstone and Autauga opened the jamboree in a two-quarter game with Autauga coming out on top 12-0. The Chargers then defeated Jefferson Christian 28-0 in a game where junior varsity players saw a lot of action.

Sophomore tailback Jamal Prentice got the scoring under way with a 65-yard touchdown run. Austin Vinzant, an eighth grader, was the next Charger to find pay dirt on a 65-yard scoring run. Freshman Casey Perryman got in on the scoring action with a 79-yard touchdown run and Ty Youngblood scored the last CCS touchdown on a 20-yard interception return to the end zone. Jessie Silvers also got in on the action, scoring a 2-point conversion.

The Chargers open the season Friday night at 7:30 at home against Chambers, a team head coach Tim Smith got a preview of last Friday night.

&uot;They’re pretty big &045; a lot bigger than us,&uot; Smith said. &uot;But, hopefully we can use our quickness and strength to our advantage. We just have to figure out a way to keep the ball away from them.&uot;

As for the Rebels, head coach Jim Stomps’ team lost to Chambers 8-0 in a two-quarter game and defeated Jefferson Christian 20-0.

In the loss to Chambers, the Rebels out-gained their opponents 85 yards to 40 yards. Chambers scored on a CVA miscue when a Chambers defensive player intercepted an option pitch by CVA’s quarterback and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown.

&uot;I was a little disappointed with the offense, but it’s a jamboree,&uot; Stomps said. &uot;It was very important for us to see what mistakes we were making before the first game and get them corrected. The defense did a great job. They flew around and the junior varsity did a very good job in the JCA game.&uot;

Jacob Beach scored the first CVA touchdown. A missed 2-point conversion left the Rebels ahead 6-0. Stephen Clinkscales scored the second touchdown on a 20-yard run and the final touchdown of the night came on a scoring pass from Cale Thompson to Patrick Sylestine.

Coosa Valley opens the season on the road at Springwood Friday night.

Briarwood played John Carroll in a two-quarter matchup last Friday night and fought to a 0-0 tie.

The Lions open the season at Class 6A Vestavia Hills Friday night.

&uot;We have to come out and see just how good we are right out of the gate,&uot; BCS head coach Fred Yancey said. &uot;Vestavia is a very good team and it will be a big challenge for us.&uot;

Other games on the calendar Friday night include a showdown between rivals Thompson High School and Pelham High School at Pelham. Lee-Scott will be in town to play at Kingwood, Fairfield will visit Oak Mountain, Evangel will be at Shelby Academy and Spain Park will host Gadsden