Football Week 1 Preview: Cedar Shoals vs. Madison County

Kicking off the 2019 season Friday night, Cedar Shoals will face off against Madison County High School.

Last season, Cedar posted a triumphant 23-3 victory against the Red Raiders. 

The Jaguars will look to pick up where they left off offensively, but they have lost a large portion of their offense to graduation including the starting quarterback and top 3 rushers. 

Senior Jaylan Rusher and sophomore Renardo Faust are ready to step up at quarterback 

On Thursday, Head Coach Leroy Ryals announced Rusher as this week’s starting quarterback.  

“Quarterback is a bigger job. You have to look at more on the field and pay attention to everything. I feel like I can be vocal considering I’m a senior,” said Rusher.

One concern for both teams is a lack of practice recently due to the August heat. With undetermined positions it has been a tough week of practice leading into the game for Cedar. Head Coach Leroy Ryals hopes to learn more about his players in this game. 

The Red Raiders (2-8 last season) will look to throw the Jaguars off with a triple-option offense led by senior Colby Smith who passed for only 40 yards last season against the Jags. Cedar encountered Jefferson’s triple option offense in a summer scrimmage, so they have experience with defending an unpredictable offense.

“We saw it a couple times last year, and worked on defending it this summer,” Ryals said.

The first game of the high school season always brings surprises. Cedar Shoals enters from a 38-12 win in its preseason scrimmage against West Hall High School. In that game the Jaguar secondary played well in holding West Hall to only two scores while Rusher and Faust traded series with the offense. If the Jaguars can repeat that performance, they should begin 2019 with a win. 

Photo by Denton Redmond.

Watch Cedar Shoals vs. Madison County live on the NFHS Network Friday August 23, 2019 at 7:30 PM. Brought to you by BluePrints Magazine and WJAG-TV Sports