‘Canes Look to Next Year

By STONE WORKMAN

“We did some good things as a team this year,” reported Hurricane Head Football Coach Eddie Roberts in our end of the season interview.

“We improved each week both on offense that started pretty decent, but especially on defense that made us competitive in most of the games. We only came away with two wins, but some of the losses came in the fourth quarter in close games.”

“I’m pleased that we increased the number of players and were able to have more of our younger players participate in the games. I was an unknown coach to the players when I got here and I am pleased that the team bought in to what I was offering.

“The team’s attitude got better each week even when we changed the offense after the Jackson game from a spread to a Wing T. The misdirection from the shotgun helped us with ball control and gave our defense some rest.”

Coach Roberts listed Brady McMichael, Skyler Blankenship and Billy Edwards as three players who made the most improvement over the year.

“Junior Quarterback McMichael improved in his overall command of the offense and his increased confidence aided in his leadership skills. Junior linebacker Blankenship was a standout in practice and in leadership on the field.
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“Junior Billy Edwards played both sides on every down, made key plays,and does whatever you ask him to do without any complaints.
“Key positions that will have to be filled include running back, wide receiver, kicker and offensive line.

“Sedarius Rooks rushed for 1140 yards. We really will miss him as a rusher and on kick-off returns,” said Coach Roberts.

We will have A.J. Thomas and Chris Thomas back and we may move up a ninth grader, Tracy Johnson who started on defense. Adrian Campbell at wide receiver will be tough to replace and we hope some young lineman will be able to come in to replace seniors Travis Hulsey and Ellis Ammons. We will have our punters back, but senior Erik Enrique will graduate so we will have some competition for kicker and be sending the winner to some kicking camps this summer.”

Hurricane fans will be looking forward to the return of nine starters on offense and ten starters on defense on the 2011 team.

“Beating two out of the last three teams we faced, including beating Greene County, showed the boys we can compete. The biggest key for next year will be improvement in our strength and our leadership. We will be working on our strength in the weight room and we will have leadership activities throughout the year.

“We have the leaders, but they need to learn how to lead in a positive way. We got better in being positive this year, but we spent too much time in bickering among ourselves. To compete in this region we have to be stronger and play as a team.”

The Canes start next year with Monroe Area (competing now in AAA playoffs) at home and then go on the road to Jackson to complete that two year commitment. Putnam, Lamar, Northeast and Southwest should be the programs that are competitive next year with the largest number of returning starters.

“Some of these schools have over 1,000 students which doubles the attendance at JCHS,” said the coach.

“The teams we play next year will be bigger, stronger and faster than us”, said Coach Roberts,” But if we play as a team expecting to win with a positive mentality, that will be the “equalizer” that can make us champions. We have the best fan support in the region which really showed up when we traveled and had more fans than the home team.

Our churches supplied pre-game meals which mean a lot to the team. We have great support with the Administration and the coaches did a great job. As of now, we have a 100% graduation rate and we monitor the team’s grades throughout the year. We will improve here next year and we wish the best to Ellis Ammons, Sedarius Rooks and Adrian Campbell who all have an opportunity to play college ball.”

CANE YEAR END STATS
Passing

Brady McMichael: 86 attempts, 47 completions, 993 yards, 9 TDs, and 7 Int.
Xavier Chapman: 30 attempts, 9 completions, 63 yards

Receiving

Adrian Campbell: 16 catches, 555 yards, 6 TDs
Billy Edwards: 16 catches, 277 yards, 1 TD
A.J. Thomas: 5 catches, 97 yards, 2 TDs
Sadarius Rooks: 10 catches, 149 yards
Tra Jackson: 3 catches, 15 yards
Chris Thomas: one catch for 8 yards

Rushing

S. Rooks: 164 carries for 1123 yards, 14 TDs
C. Thomas: 89 carries, 834 yards, 6 TDs
A.J. Thomas: 77 carries, 423 yards, 3 TDs
Tra Jackson: 17 carries, 51 yards
All Purpose Yards
S. Rooks: 1123 rushing, 149 receiving, 547 return 1819 total, 14 TDs

Defensive

A.J. Thomas: 88 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 blocked kick
Skyler Blankenship: 75 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack, 2 fumble recoveries
Deonte Norwood: 48 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
Brandon Barger: 48 tackles, 6 for a loss, 1 sack
Ellis Ammons: 38 tackles, 3 for a loss, 1 sack
Chris Thomas: 34 tackles, 1 for a loss 1 int., 1 fumble recovery

Billy Edwards: 30 tackels, 1 for a loss i int.
De’Atrius Stone: 21 tackles, 1 for a loss, 1 fumble recovery
Kyle Camp: 21 tackles, 1 for a loss
Juvenal Bermudez: 15 tackles
Timmy Postlethwait: 15 tackles, 1 for a loss, 1 fumble recovery
Tra Jackson: 13 tackles, 1 int.
Martin Sands: 13 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
Sadarius Rooks: 11 tackles, 1 for a loss
Chris Sands: 7 tackles,
Justin Van Horn: 4 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries
Adrian Campbell: 2 tackles
Austin Pierce: 1 fumble recovery