LFO’s Vaughn area player of week
Zach Vaughn has been part of a movement where the only away to go was up.
In Bo Campbell’s first year as Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe’s football coach, Vaughn and the Warriors were winless. Then last year there was a win. This year they’re 5-3 overall and 3-0 in Region 6-AAA North heading into the subregion championship game Friday at North Murray.
Vaughn is one of the primary reasons the Warriors are in this position, and he came through with his best game of the season last week against Murray County. The senior quarterback completed 11 of 16 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 186 yards and three scores. With 434 yards of total offense, he was selected Best of Preps area player of the week as sponsored by Waffle House.
“It isn’t just last Friday. I really saw some great things in the Ringgold game (Sept. 29),” Campbell said of Vaughn. “This game, though, I felt like he played the most complete game I’ve seen him play. He did a great job throwing and running the ball.”
Early in his career the 6-foot, 185-pound Vaughn played some in the defensive secondary and at wide receiver. Then last year as he worked primarily as a receiver, Campbell and his staff approached the him about making the move to quarterback.
The starter had gotten hurt and the coaches felt the initial backups were struggling.
“We felt we needed to have a good athlete at quarterback. Zach was our best receiver, but we moved him to quarterback,” Campbell said. “It hurt in the receiving corps, but at the same time we wanted to have him touch the ball more, and what better way to do that than moving him to QB and starting teaching him that?
“He made some mistakes but also made some really good plays,” Campbell said.
Vaughn had the rest of the 2016 season, the spring and then summer to soak up as much as he could.
“The times that he has struggled are when he’s trying too hard to make a play, and at times we talked to him about being smart and not trying to do something that’s not there,” Campbell said. “Of course we have tried to tell him, too, to go out of bounds rather than take a hit, but he’s one that likes giving the hit rather than taking it.”
It hasn’t hurt the Warriors’ push that Vaughn really, really hates to lose.
“He is one of the most competitive players on the team,” Campbell said. “You always hope and wish that your guys go out there and compete and have that will to win. Zach is always in that zone. He doesn’t like to lose, and he doesn’t like it when he gets tackled.”
Asked if Vaughn can play in college, Campbell said, “Yeah. I think he’s a prospect. He’s a really good receiver. He’s good at quarterback. He’s good at running the ball. He’s an all-around athlete.”
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-8864765. Follow him on Twitter @wardgossett.