When Bearden football beat Maryville 21-20 last year, the Bulldog defense took center stage in the historic win, setting up a run that went all the way to the state quarterfinals.
The defense has been just as dominant in 2024, and Bearden (3-2, 2-0 Region 2-6A) hopes that continues Thursday night at 7 when Maryville visits Bill Young Field.
Bearden beat rival Farragut 38-14 last week, and the Bulldogs appear to have recovered from the early season injury issues that contributed to consecutive losses to Alcoa and Anderson County.
“We’re really just climbing back to being ourselves,” Coach Patrick Abernathy said. “We’re back to playing a certain level, so we’re excited about the opportunity to play [together again].”
The defense has had to adjust to personnel shifts over the course of this season. Senior linebacker Kai Ironside medically retired from football after a series of injuries, but junior Rocky Brown and sophomore Paxton Parrott have both stepped up in his absence.
“It’s definitely changed a lot, but it’s good to have someone there [to help me] and help [me] see and understand it,” Parrott said. “Because this is totally a different thing for me, but it’s something that we’re gonna have to adapt to and perform well.”
Brown has moved into Ironside’s middle linebacker spot in recent games.
“Rocky has become the senior linebacker in a sense,” Coach Abernathy said.
Added Parrott: “Rocky has assumed the role of being the leader on the defense for sure. He checks the calls, tells us what we need to be doing, so Rocky has fulfilled big shoes. He is a vocal and a physical leader.”
Brown’s 39 tackles this season lead the team, and he’s looking forward to another big night against Maryville (6-0, 2-0).
“It makes me nervous, but it feels good,” Brown said. “I have to help out everybody on defense. It’s [hard because] if I mess up making a call, we all mess up. It’s being the leader, but it’s gonna happen.”
Coach Abernathy said Parrott’s growth has also been integral to overcoming the loss of a mainstay like Ironside.
“Bringing in another guy like Paxton, who has an enormous amount of ability already, but putting him at the linebacker position has been really smooth,” he said. “Paxton is really thirsty to learn, and he plays with a lot of leverage physically.”
Despite Parrott being a relative newcomer to the starting defensive unit, Brown has already seen him start to realize his potential.
“There is stuff we’re gonna work on with him because he’s new,” Brown said, “but he has physicality and he’s gonna get on it fast.”