Home » Football pictures: Eight the Hard Way.

Football pictures: Eight the Hard Way.

So last Friday night was the opening week of football here in East Tennessee and I was covering a game for the Mountain Press.  The Seymour Eagles travelled to Jonesborough to take on the Pioneers of David Crockett.

Seymour had a rough season last year, and this season is off to a rocky start as well, but I captured a series of pictures that shows a ray of hope for the team. Wide receiver Naamon Webb caught a pass from quarterback Grayson Campbell for an eight yard gain.

No big deal, right?  Eight yards is barely anything. It’s a short pass and an instant tackle.

Not this time.

I was fortunate to get a series of pictures that showed exactly what went into getting this eight yards. I showed the pictures to my editor who agreed that while the sequence of shots was awesome, there was no single shot that really told the story. So he gave me permission to put them up here. So here they are.

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Webb makes a fingertip catch at the 15 yard line

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Securing the ball, he sees three Pioneers approaching fast. This could sting a little.

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#8 comes flying in and Webb side steps him at the 19 yard line.

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As # 8 rolls to the ground, #12 and 51 get closer. It’s time to come up with something different.

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Webb slams on the brakes at the 20. #12 and 9 try to check up and redirect. #51 keeps coming full steam ahead.

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As Webb cuts to the inside, 9 and 12 try to adjust. #51, his head down, ain’t adjusting nothing for nobody.

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Webb’s cut and #51s dramatic ground loop puts #9 out of position and interferes with #12’s tackle attempt.

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As #51 rolls on the ground, trying to figure out what just happened, #12 desperately tries to hold Webb up until his team mates arrive. #67 heads in their direction, but Webb is also picking up a blocker.

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Bryan Rhoton squares up with #9 while 38, desperately trying to get back into the play, gets tangled up with #12, and can’t make the tackle.

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#67 is ready to hit Webb, and Webb plows forward, now trying to get every yard he can.

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With help from #71, and #9, who fought off the block, Webb is tackled at the 23. An eight yard pickup that could very easily have ben a catch for no gain.

So how is an eight yard gain a ray of hope?

Simple. Webb could have taken 3-4 yards and gone down with the first hit. He could have seen what was coming and settled for the short gain.

But he didn’t. He fought for more. We wanted more.

That’s the kind of heart that wins games. Maybe not this game. MAybe not the next one. But as this kind of fight spreads through the team, the wins will follow.

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