“I kind of love ‘em and kind of hate ‘em!” one fan blurted out at the first ever Tennessee Central Express game held at TTU’s Tucker Stadium Saturday night.

The Xpress is a local (Monterey based) semi-pro team staffed by adults mostly from the area.

That means that they’re already being compared to a major league Football team and all-in-all, it was a great first showing.

Mark Twain said, “A boy who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.”

And the same rule applies for the Xpress… there are skills, strategies, and a lot of fine tuning that they’ll pick up each game.

The Xpress showed up on the field as a team; they left the field as a team, and they, along with the Tennessee Rattlers, played a 60 minute game of football.

Most significantly, it wasn’t being played by a group of guys who were getting a lot of money and vying for product endorsements.

It was played for love of the game—and that’s probably what made the night so grand.

The final score was the Rattlers taking the Xpress, 20 to 6 with Jason Strode making the sole express TD.

While QB Bernie Dixon threw an interception or two, he showed very strongly under pressure at keeping a cool head and looking for receivers while being pursued by two or three Rattlers.

The defense showed well in several plays.

Next game is this coming Saturday at 7 at Stone Memorial HS in Crossville where they encounter the North Georgia Bulldogs.

In two weeks they go to Chattanooga to take on the Steam.

For more info, check out their website at: http://www.tennesseecentralxpress.com/

Thanks for watching the Tennessee Central Express and CookevilleTimes.com.