Hurricanes look to return to winning in new region
Ted Gatewood has looked younger. The reading glasses are a new touch to his look. The spectacles are necessary.
The East Hamilton football coach has an interesting season upcoming, one that he wants to see clearly with the Hurricanes included in a new region that extends all the way to Crossville.
“Last year, I woke up every night on the hour just crying,” Gatewood joked. “The biggest thing was injuries, and there were little things, details that we had to improve upon.”
His team is limping into 2015 after a disappointing 2-8 year during which the Hurricanes lost their starting quarterback in the first game and had a revolving door at that spot for the rest of the season.
The Hurricanes are in a region with Central, Hixson and a bunch of outof-town teams including Cumberland County, Livingston Academy and Stone Memorial from the Crossville area.
“The schedule is all new,” Livingston coach Bruce Lamb said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. The unknown is big for us.”
Nic Woods returns at quarterback after missing almost all of last season. And both lines return enough starters to make the Hurricanes stout enough to contend into the playoffs.
“We lost (Woods), then lost our backup and had to move a cornerback
back to quarterback,” Gatewood said. “I think our guys have done a great job of pushing past that.”
Gatewood has plenty of players who are willing to compete this year.
“The understand what their goals are and what they have to do to achieve those goals,” he said. “We’re working on getting Nic reps and getting him back into the fold.
“The biggest thing for us this season is going into the season with the right mindset and we have to get better at the simple things like blocking and tackling.”
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfresspress.com or 423-7576484. Follow him at twitter. com/UchiyamaCTFP.