Saturday July 14th was supposed to be a day for the Cannon County Football Team to get some work in for their offense and defense and then maybe make a splash in the tournament following the pool play in the Shelbyville “Pencil City” 7 on 7 Passing Tournament. Don’t tell that to the 17 players from Cannon who came to compete! Going 2-2 in the Pool play, with a last minute possible upset of Franklin County, Cannon entered the bracket as the number 8 seed to face arch rival DeKalb, the number 9 seed. Both teams squared off for what would become a very tight game. Cannon scored first taking almost 8 plays to reach the end zone, but DeKalb came right back and scored on their first play from 40 yards out. Both teams settling in and creating stops on defense for both sides let Cannon finish with a 9-8 victory over DeKalb with a late interception (interceptions gain 2 points for the defense) to seal the contest as time expired. Cannon’s victory over DeKalb earned them the quarterfinal game against #1 seed Franklin County, who Cannon had just missed beating in the final seconds of their pool play games. Franklin came out with over 40 players and were very impressive on offense as the Rebels moved down the field to take the early lead. Cannon sputtered on offense the first two drives and threw an interception to end one of those series. However, the Cannon defense would not be denied and responded with their own pick that put excitement back in Cannon and spurred the offense to move the ball down the field with a long pass from Reese Smith to Cort Litchford for the game winning touchdown. Cannon’s defense shut the Rebels offense down on the 5-yard line and forced the turn over on downs. Cannon wins the quarterfinal game 11-8.
Cannon then moved to the semi-finals to face Creek Wood who would shut Cannon’s offense down the first two series. Luckily the Cannon defense made Creek Wood use almost all its downs to score their first two touchdowns, which gave the Cannon offensive staff time to make adjustments to Creek Woods defense. The rain then moved in and it looked like Cannon’s run had come to an end with 3rd and long and soaked footballs. However, Smith connected with Brady Cunningham on a 15 yard crossing pattern to get the first down. Cannon would score in the next two plays with a deep corner route to Litchford to put the game within reach. Cannon’s defense shined again with a pick, and two points, that gave some life to a Cannon squad that was worn out having to play both ways. Down by 4 points with less than 7 minutes left the Lions moved down the field with catches by Conner Tucker, Dillon Taylor, Nick Phillips, and Logan Bundy. Burning clock and making first downs, capped off with a late touchdown, the Lions punched their ticket to the finals with a score of 16-14 over Creek Wood.
Due to weather restrictions the game versus Page was delayed and then decided that Cannon and Page would be Co-Champions because the weather was becoming unpredictable. Cannon finished the tournament 5-2 and Co-Champs of the tournament.
Coach Matt Daniel praised his team for the effort and level of commitment showed by the offense and defense. Daniel also pointed out that the team was playing with less than 20 players and that most people played both ways all day along with 3 freshmen who made huge impacts at their position. Big Defensive plays by Brandy Cunningham, Brady Smith, Blake Bond, Lucas Clark, Cort Litchford, and Reese Smith contributed to Cannon’s success.
Cannon has one more 7 on 7 event vs Community High School on July 17th @ 11AM @ Community. Cannon begins fall camp on July 23rd and has its first full scrimmage August 3rd @ Huntland. Cannon’s first home scrimmage will be August 10th vs White County and will open the season at home vs Red Boiling Springs on August 17th.
