Pigskin appetizers

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Rain may have put a damper on some local jamborees, but several Shelby County high school football teams got a taste of live gameplay last week in pre-season contests around the area.

Most of Thursday night’s games went off without a hitch, but thunderstorms created problems for some Friday night exhibitions.

Pelham and Chelsea both cancelled Friday night jamboree games due to nasty weather, while others were postponed for up to an hour.

Calera jamboree

Calera racked up 249 yards rushing and rumbled for five touchdowns in two quarters during last Thursday’s jamboree game.

The Eagles broke several long runs against Isabella in the second half of the jamboree contest that featured showdowns between Shelby County and Chilton County schools.

Vincent outscored Verbena in the first half to win the early game.

Calera’s David Lacey and Wendell Demoss each broke away on touchdown runs longer than 50 yards in an offensive explosion by the Eagles.

Lacey’s came near the end of the first quarter on a 70-yard sprint to the endzone.

Less than two minutes later, he scored his second touchdown of the night. Lacey finished with 71 yards and two scores on three carries.

T.J. Green and Demoss ran the option to perfection in the second quarter, springing Demoss for a 60-yard score.

Demoss finished with 54 yards on two carries with one touchdown while Green had 43 yards and a touchdown on three touches.

Ricco Jones scored the Eagles final touchdown of the night with 2 minutes, 39 seconds remaining when he broke for a 22-yard trip to the endzone.

Paul Delbridge added 28 yards for Calera on the ground.

Jake Horton and Cory Turnbloom were each perfect in point-after attempts for the Eagles.

Calera coach Ken Adams said he was pleased with the overall performance but said he didn’t want to dwell on the jamboree with a big matchup against rival Montevallo scheduled for next week’s regular-season opener.

&uot;It was a good night for us as far as jamborees go because nobody was hurt,&uot; Adams said. &uot;But I can’t feel anything until Montevallo.&uot;

Cornerstone jamboree

The Chargers hosted their second annual jamboree for AISA teams last Friday night at Michael B. Willis Memorial Field.

More than 800 fans waited through an hour-and-a-half rain delay to watch the contests.

Seven teams rotated in for two quarters of competition against two different opponents.

Cornerstone started and finished the jamboree outscoring Jefferson Christian, 13-0, in their first matchup and blanking East Memorial, 19-0, during its final quarter of play.

Fullback Heath Smith broke a 70-yard run for the Chargers and Jamal Prentice ripped off a 45-yard run.

Cornerstone quarterback John Ray completed two passes in his debut as the Chargers’ signal caller.

Shelby Academy scored a total of 27 points while shutting out its two opponents, Jefferson Christian and Kingwood Christian.

The Lions were also held scoreless by Autauga, who put up 14 points against the Kingwood defense.

Vestavia jamboree

Briarwood Christian and Spain Park each made appearances on the new artificial grass at Vestavia Hills High School last Friday night.

Briarwood fell to Shades Valley, 9-2, while Spain Park edged Homewood, 19-10.

The first contest was delayed for nearly an hour due to lightning before Shades Valley shut out the Briarwood offense.

Briarwood’s only points came on a safety when Shades Valley’s punter booted the ball out of the back of the end zone after a botched snap.

Shades Valley scored on a Briarwood fumble recovery and a 28-yard field goal.

Spain Park had a bit more success moving the ball on offense, as quarterback Neil Caudle went 12-for-20, passing for 153 yards and two touchdowns.

Austin Graham led the Jaguars in receiving with 55 yards, including a 16-yard catch for Spain Park’s first touchdown.

Caudle’s other scoring strike was a 39-yard connection with Tyler Grisham.

Oak Mountain jamboree

The Eagles scored a defensive touchdown to give them the edge over first-quarter opponent Butler when play began after an hour rain delay Friday night at Heardmont Park.

With just under two minutes to play, Oak Mountain’s Alex Foreman intercepted a Butler pass, cut off a Ryan Shoemaker block and raced 70 yards for the score.

Shelby County, who moves to Class 5A this season, battled 6A Oak Mountain for two quarters in the second matchup of the jamboree.

Oak Mountain won, 3-0, taking the lead on a 32-yard Shoemaker field goal.

Nick Anderson rushed for 54 yards on six carries for Oak Mountain.

Josh Dikis was 4-for-9 with 21 yards passing in his debut as Shelby County’s quarterback, including two passes to receiver Brandon Burns.

The Wildcats defeated Butler, 7-6, in other jamboree action, behind a 57-yard rushing effort by Marc Lemley.

Maurice Whiting scored Shelby County’s lone touchdown on a two-yard run, capped off by an Erick Hernandez extra point