The Smyrna Bulldogs defeated the Riverdale Warriors 14-6 in the first matchup of the day at the annual Rutherford County Football Jamboree last Friday night.

"I thought we moved the ball well on offense, we moved the chains pretty good," Smyrna head coach Matt Williams said. "Defensively I thought we played good the first series, but I wasn't too happy with the second series when they (Riverdale) went down and scored.

"The main thing is I thought the kids played hard and I hope they got the butterflies out of their stomachs."

Bulldogs' veteran quarterback John Turner may have shown a sign of things to come for the upcoming season with an impressive outing. He was 7 of 10 passing for 127 yards and two touchdowns in just three series.

"I feel like we've always been not necessarily underdogs but overshadowed," said Turner. "People don't really look at us as a top contender, but we are just going to keep using that as fuel for the fire.

Smyrna struck on its first possession with 5:45 left in the first quarter when Turner hit Quentin Smith on a 21-yard touchdown pass. After a successful PAT by Jose Baeza's PAT made it 7-0.

Riverdale returned the favor on its next possession with a 7-yard touchdown run by Savion Davis that made the score 7-6 in favor of the Bulldogs after a missed PAT. Davis finished with 30 yards on six carries, including the touchdown.

Both teams had to punt on their next possessions, but in the last possession for the Smyrna starters, they scored once more on another touchdown pass by Turner, this one to Nick Okeke from 32 yards out. After Baeza connected again on the PAT the score was 14-6 Smyrna, and that is where it remained as the backups for each team finished out the game.

Smyrna star tailback Casey Perkins had 32 yards on seven carries, and Riverdale quarterback Marqwell Odom was 3 of 5 passing for 14 yards and also 40 yards rushing.