The Hebron Christian Lions kicked off the 2024 season with an emphatic 48-0 victory over Therrell, getting a trio of first-half touchdown runs from Devon Caldwell, a kicking clinic from Cam Eblen and a Stroud Morris pick-six at Burlingame Field on Day 3 of the Corky Kell-Dave Hunter Classic at Hebron.
“Our strategy going into the game was, let’s wear them down,” shared third-year Hebron head coach Jonathan Gess. “Let’s not play kids both ways. Just kind of run the ball. Pound the ball. And we’ll see how it opens.”
The payoff came in the form of a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes from senior quarterback Thomas Stallworth to Jarvis Mathurin and KJ Thomas that put the game away before Morris provided the final points with his interception return later in the frame. Eblen connected on two field goals and kept field position in Hebron Christian’s favor all night, earning high praise from Gess afterward.
“One shoutout goes to our kicker. He had four touchbacks, and he had 13 points. Four touchbacks are pretty much unheard of in high school football,” he said.
Gess cited “busted coverages” and “some silly stuff” from last week’s scrimmage as inspiration to play a much cleaner game this week, especially on defense
“We’re gonna play Cover 3, and we’re not gonna mess up,” he said of their mindset heading into the opener. “We’re gonna execute and play fast and get after it. And that’s what they did, and that’s who we are.”
“Defense is about running to the ball and executing,” he continued, “But offense, you grow as the season goes on. Who you are and your identity. So that’s what we’re working on this week.”
He’ll have a chance to evaluate that growth when the Lions travel to Fellowship Christian next weekend. Around the northern part of the state, storms impacted games in various ways including cancellations and postponements. Northwest Georgia was first impacted around the time of kickoff before the inclement weather made its way on a southeasterly direction, cancelling/postponing numerous games including the Cass/Callaway Corky Kell + Dave Hunter game to be held at Rome’s Barron Stadium.
