By Dave Ford
The quarterback and receivers can’t have all the fun, at least that was the thought process behind the genesis of the Big Man Tournament of Champions.
On July 12 at Powell High School, the 3rd Annual BMTOC manifested some of the event’s best action to date. In fact, a mere two points decided the winner. Central High edged out two-time defending champion Bearden with a total of 55 points. Bearden finished with 53 points, while third-place South-Doyle totaled 52.5 and fourth-place Heritage was close behind with 52.
Fulton High head football coach Buck Coatney and Powell head football coach Matt Lowe put their heads together three years ago to come up with the competition in order to generate some early season excitement.
“It’s something that me and Matt talked about three years ago that just gives the linemen something to look forward to in the summer,” said Coatney. “It’s something we do together and you can see there’s a lot of excitement here. The skill guys have the passing league and it just took me 13 or 14 years to think of this. It’s kind of a fun thing and it’s modeled after the Iron Man competition.”
Three teams, Alcoa, Halls and Farragut, failed to show up for what was originally scheduled to be a 10-team competition. But entertainment was not on short order, as the Bench Press event started off the overall competition. Jon Shipley of Cumberland Gap and Eric Costner of Heritage tied for first place after they both lifted 185 lbs. 31 times.
The Dumbell Relay saw Bearden’s first of two entered teams finish first with a time of 44.44 seconds. Next up was the One-Man Sled event, in which Fulton’s Antwan Hamilton not only won the competition but also set a new record with a time of 9.43 seconds on the 40-yard course.
Heritage took the Two-Man Sled title, while South-Doyle’s first of two entered teams won the Four-Man Tire Flip Relay by posting a time of 1 minute, 52 seconds. Heritage struck again in the Five-Man Sled event with a first-place time of 12.5 seconds. But Central’s Dylan Wolfenbarger pushed the Bobcats to the overall lead for good with his event record-setting time of 21.58 seconds in the Obstacle Course. The competition’s finale, Tug of War, saw Fulton defeat South-Doyle.
The following is a list of the final team results:
1. Central (55 pts.)
2. Bearden 1 (53)
3. South-Doyle 1 (52.5)
4. Heritage (52)
5. Fulton (46.5)
6. Cumberland Gap (37.5)
7. Powell (33)
8. Bearden 2 (23)
9. South-Doyle 2 (14.5)
After winning three state titles in five years at Fulton and finishing as the runner-up in 2007, Coatney said the strength of his team will be up front in 2008.
“I expect our line to come up big for us,” he said. “We have four returning starters on our offensive line. We’re going to be really young with our receivers, so we’re expecting our line to lead us early in the season.”
Coatney also added that his offense will be green and he’s unsure of who will turn out to be the leader.
“It’s wide open. Receivers, quarterback, running back, it’s all open,” he said.
And after such a strong finish to last year’s season, Coantney said his expectations for the upcoming campaign are low-key at the moment.
“I expect us to compete,” he said. “We’ll be really young in the skill positions, but I just want us to compete.”
