Second Jam provides insight for coaches

Cascade's Ashley Bledsoe makes a move against a Community defender. (T-G Photo by Jimmy Jones) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Teams from Cascade, Community, Webb, Marshall County and Forrest took advantage of some beautiful weather in the second annual Bell Buckle Jam on Saturday to enjoy not only some good fellowship but engage in some very competitive soccer matches in rapid fire succession that gave their respective coaches a great chance to assess their teams' progress.

Community hooked up with the Lady Feet in the first match of the day at Webb and the home team quickly proved that they were once again going to be a force to be reckoned with as they came out on top 3-0.

The Lady Feet got goals from senior Katie Jones and she was joined by a pair of freshmen in Karly Grissom and Emily Gibson to account for the scoring.

Jones scored in each match played and Hannah Gallager, Melissa Wisniewski and Maya Porter all pitched in with goals to lead Webb to a 3-0 record as they downed Marshall County 2-0 and Forrest 3-0 in subsequent games.

"We played really well in our matches today," Webb coach Adrian Anderson said. "We had excellent team unity, passed the ball down the field and shared the ball very unselfishly.

"Our offense was very fluid -- we passed the ball through, around and over the top and our defense pitched three shutouts.

"I can't remember getting beaten in transition even one time today so I have to say that I was very pleased with our overall performance."

The Viqueens, playing without three starters due to injury and were missing another starter as well, but played hard and held their own in a very physical matchup that saw them miss several golden opportunities from in close.

"We were short on our offensive front line and we were never really confident in our ability to score without the missing players," Viqueen coach Mark Neill said. "We had probably the toughest schedule of the tournament in that we played three games back-to-back with minimal time between games and we just don't have that kind of depth.

"Not many teams do."

Community lost to Forrest and was downed 5-0 by the Lady Champions before defeating Marshall County 4-3 to finish 1-3 on the day.

"We learned a lot about our team today," Neill said. "I was really proud that our kids despite our record because they played hard from start to finish in every match despite being dog tired at the end of the day."

Cascade dominated the competition in last year's Jam and that trend continued in 2009 as they scored 14 times while allowing just one goal against three different opponents.

Webb striker Karly Grissom (20) battles Viqueen defender Becca George for ball possession. (T-G Photo by Jimmy Jones) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The Lady Champions outscored Marshall County 3-1, put up a five spot on the Viqueens and finished the day by steam-rolling Forrest 6-0 to finish the day undefeated.

Their goal total was impressive and so was the number of players that thinned the nets for the Orange and Black as seven different athletes lit up the scoreboard.

"We played outstanding soccer all day," Cascade coach Monica Lewis said. "It was a great way to start our season. The kids all pulled together and we are really excited to win against two opponents that we are going to see in the regular season (Community, Forrest).

"I hope what our fans saw out there today is just a precursor to what we can expect during the season."

The regular season starts this week for the three teams. Webb takes on Cannon County on Thursday at 4:30 in an away game.

Community welcomes Cornersville today at 5:30 and Cascade takes on Lincoln County at 6 in Wartrace.