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CHOCOWINITY, N.C. – Football jamborees aren’t exclusive to the high school level. A similar middle school event in Chocowinity Wednesday brought six schools together to scrimmage and build upon what they’ve learned ahead of their season.

Chocowinity Middle School hosted five other teams in a six-team round-robin event. The Indians were joined by Bath Middle and four out-of-county teams: Wilson Prep, Pamlico County, Chowan and West Craven. This was the second straight year Chocowinity hosted the event.

Much like a high school football jamboree, the players and coaches went through the rules and took part in a series of 10 plays on offense and defense. That also included a session between Chocowinity and Bath, who are in the same conference with Pamlico County, which also scrimmaged with the two Beaufort County schools.

“We’ve gone to ones in the past, and I thought it would be a great idea to host one,” Chocowinity football coach and athletics director Alan Swain said. ”I had a couple of people reach out last summer. So, a couple of these teams came in last year as well. And so, I decided to put it together. I thought it would be a good type of fundraiser to start the season.”

Swain and Bath coach Casey George saw positives and things to work on ahead of their season openers. George saw Wednesday’s event as a good way to show his team what other teams looked like while giving them a chance to learn from going against someone besides their own teammates in practice.

Players such as Marshall Rutledge, Logan Askew, Nick Keech, Alan Hudson and Seth Reason showed good performances on both sides of the ball. George said players like Rutledge have already shown they can step up and be leaders on the team.

“Marshall, he’s really stepped up as a leader this season,” George said. “He encourages the younger players. And overall, I think he’s ready for high school football. He can go and play on JV today.
“And we’re running the same Northside playbook. So, they’re gonna be ready when they get to high school.”

Swain’s team went on defense first against Chowan and gave up two touchdowns on long runs. However, the Indians seemed to get stronger on the defensive side as the jamboree continued. Then, Swain had players like Jah’Mere Blount, Trent Hobson and Jahiem Moore step up on the offensive side. The trio provided some good sparks for the offense, hitting holes that opened to produce touchdowns of their own.

That’s not only a good thing for a program that doesn’t benefit from a recreation program, it also bodes well that several players can step up, especially since Swain said some members of his team are nursing injuries that have slowed some progress.

“We’ve got 17 kids right now,” Swain said. “So, we’re limited to that. But when they see a guy their size or bigger than them on the other side, I like to see how they react, how they respond. And I think that for the most part we did a decent job.”

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