Eagles doing well in passing league

chris@seymourherald.com If last week’s showing at the “Air Attack Passing League” at Webb School in Knoxville is any indication of what the upcoming football season will be like for the Seymour Eagles, fans should go ahead and get ready for some fireworks in autumn. The Eagles have won the tournament championship at the pre-season league three of the four years that it has been played, but there was a question mark coming into this years’ competition concerning a new Seymour signal caller. Two-year starting quarterback Jason Pryor is off to college on a baseball scholarship making way for senior, first year starter Kris O’Barr to finally get the opportunity to show his skills under center. After two relatively easy wins to start the tournament, O’Barr and the Eagles were tested with back-to-back games against two schools who play in a higher classification; The Eagles faced Heritage on Wednesday night and Knox Central on Thursday before meeting the tournament host Webb Spartans in what amounted to be a semi-final game Friday night. In the game against Heritage, O’ Barr started things off by going 4-4 through the air including a 25-yard fade on the money to Adam Gossett in the corner of the end zone for the game’s first score. O’ Barr also serves as the team’s field goal kicker and punter and booted the extra point to make the score 7-0 early in the first half. Instead of splitting the games into four quarters, the passing league divides the contest into two-thirty minute halves with each team receiving three timeouts per half. The coaches must control the clock as if it were like a college basketball game, saving them until the last couple of minutes in the half. Heritage started their first offensive possession from their own 30-yard line, and after a short completion on first down, Seymour linebacker Scott Thomas stepped in front of a Moutanineer pass and returned the interception to the Heritage 20-yard line. On first down, O’ Barr lofted another fade pass, this time caught in stride by receiver Nathan Disney for the 22-yard score. O’ Barr added the extra point to make the score 14-0. Heritage went back on offense and managed to put together a nine play drive that took them to the Seymour 20-yard line but consecutive incompletions and a third down sack forced a fourth and long pass that was broken up by Eagle defensive back Chase Tippens in the end zone. In the no contact league, a sack is ruled when the quarterback holds on to the ball for more than four seconds while standing in the pocket. Seymour took over at their own 20-yard line and on first down O’ Barr found Gossett over the middle for a 25-yard completion. Gossett looks to be big enough to play tight end and fast enough to play receiver, making him and the sure handed Disney, O’ Barr’s first look during this particular league. With the wide-open offensive game that coach Gary Householder incorporates, the three could put up some big numbers in the upcoming season. O’ Barr threw his first incompletion of the game on the second down pass along the right sidelines. At that point he was 5-6 for 115 yards and two touchdowns. The next Seymour offensive play went for 20-yards on a pass from O’ Barr to Disney down the left sideline. O’ Barr was ruled down on a sack and threw his second incompletion of the game on first and second down. O’ Barr tossed another incompletion into the end zone at the 2:00 mark of the first half. On fourth down the senior booted a 36-yard field goal to put the Eagles up 17-0 with 1:35 left. On the first series of the second half, heritage drove 70-yards in six plays before getting a touchdown pass over the middle for their first score. The two-point conversion attempt was broken up by a Seymour linebacker making the score 17-6. Seymour scored the next score on their second series of the half on a 45-yard deep route from O’ Barr to Disney on first down. Disney got behind the defense and made the catch down the left sideline before making a move on a defensive back and dancing into the end zone. O’ Barr’s ensuing kick made it 24-6. Heritage scored their second TD with less than one minute left in the game when a receiver ran under a deflected pass in the end zone for the score. The two point conversion was successful making the final score 24-14. The Eagles outlasted the Central Bobcats 28-14 as O’ Barr had another effective game and the defense managed to hold the young Central offense in check. Seymour scored first when O’ Barr hit B.J. Everett down the left-sideline for a score early in the first half. O’ Barr’s kick made it 7-0. On the Bobcat’s ensuing series, Gossett picked off a pass on fourth and 10 at the Central 40-yard line. Disney snagged a one-handed catch on first down for 15-yards and after a short pass over the middle and a toss to Everett at the one yard line, O’ Barr found Everett cutting across the middle for the short touchdown pass. O ‘ Barr briefly looked to the right pulling the Central defense before quickly going back to his left to find Everett running toward the middle on the slant pattern. Central score on a seven-play 70-yard drive in the last minute of the first half to make the score 14-7 at halftime. Seymour score on their first series of the second half when Everett made a leaping catch over the middle to finish off a seven play drive. O’ Barr made it 21-7 with the successful kick. Seymour made the score 28-7 when O’ Barr hit Erick Hickman over the middle on a short touchdown pass at the 2:00 mark. Central added a score on a nice 50-yard throw and catch with 1:10 left in the game. The Eagles faced the Spartans Friday night with the winner going on to play the impressive looking Fulton Falcons in the championship game. The game was halted because of rain with about 12:00 left in the game and the score tied at 14-14. The game, which was the most competitive contest of the tournament when it was stopped, was rescheduled and will pick up where it was left off Monday evening at 6:00pm. The winner then played the Falcons in the title game at 7:00pm.