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Alvin Sanders has had a lot of success as a head coach in the City Championship.

Sanders entered Friday’s game against Morristown East with the highest winning percentage out of any coach in the series, and he exited Friday’s contest with an even higher percentage.

With Friday night’s win, Sanders improved to 6-1 as a head coach against Morristown East. The Trojans have now won three straight.

For Sanders, he isn’t focused on his own personal record but instead focused on his team opening up the season with a big win.

“Just starting off the season right is huge,” Sanders said. “It’s one of those things that you never want to start with a rivalry loss. We’ve just been preaching the small things this offseason. Just really happy to see our guys start off with a win.”

Isom continues to work back to 100%

Recovering from a knee injury, Malakhi Isom has only been full go for three weeks now for Morristown West.

The two-year starting quarterback has had his highs-and-lows while he works back into game shape. Friday night was more of the same.

In the contest, Isom completed five passes for 81 yards. Isom threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to John Michael Rosen in the second half and ran for a touchdown in the first half. Isom also ran for 23 yards.

“He played well,” Sanders said. “He was poised and so forth. I like the way he responded after his early pick. He came back and led drives. We have to work on continuing to work on the mechanics a little bit because we have guys open we have to get it to. But for his third game of action back, I thought he did real well.”

Still things to work on for Morristown West

While it was a lopsided victory for West, Sanders said there are still things to work on early in the season.

Those issues included relaxing with a lead and missed assignments. Another issue came with penalties as West was hit for seven penalties for 80 yards.

The most important issue for Sanders though came with hydration. The third quarter came to a screeching halt as the Trojans were cramping play-after-play.

“It was real sloppy,” Sanders said. “We just have to do a better job of executing. When we were focused and locked in, we moved the ball perfectly. As soon as we relaxed, we had mistakes and turnovers. Really proud of the way we responded, but we have to take care of things. And we have to take care of this hydration. We’re cramping all over the field. We can’t be successful when that happens.”

Up Next:

Morristown West will be back in action at home on Friday as they take on Elizabethton. Elizabethton defeated Science Hill in their opener.

Kickoff at Burke-Toney Stadium is set for 7 p.m.

“We need to work on everything,” Sanders said. “They have championship pedigree and will come in here expecting to win. We have a lot to clean up and have our work cut out for us next week.”