Joseph Gore’s rushing attack earns him player of the week,

Joseph Gore doesn’t have that overwhelming size. The Bledsoe County standout is 5-foot-7 and maybe 160 pounds after a couple of hot dogs.

“He had a pretty good game, got loose a little bit — not bad for a sophomore,” Warriors coach Jason Reel said Sunday afternoon after watching video from his team’s 47-0 win on the road at Cumberland County. “But I think he has more in him.”

Gore had 10 first-half carries and just one in the second half — a 65-yard run for his only TD — but finished the night with 215 yards. It was by 35 yards the best rushing performance from season openers reported to the Times Free Press.

For his effort, Gore earned the first Best of Preps Player of the Week honors.

His size indicates that Gore doesn’t do his thing with brute strength, and he is but a 4.7 40-type kid.

“His vision and his hips are unreal,” Reel said. “We coaches would like to think it’s coaching but so much of it is natural ability. He does things that kids who’ve been coached for years don’t do.”

There’s a difference in fast and quick and Reel believes that Gore is unnaturally quick.

“It’s not that flat speed but the acceleration on a cut,” the coach said. “There was one instance where one of their kids had the angle on him and Joseph planted and turned and the kid never touched him. The kid actually rolled his ankle trying to make the tackle and had to be carried from the field.”

All good running backs are quick to offer at least a word or two of praise about their offensive linemen, and Reel did it for Gore.

“On his touchdown he didn’t make his first cut till he was 20 yards downfield,” Reel said of a Warriors offensive line anchored by right guard Blake Sorrow.

“The offensive line deserves a lot of the credit but when Joseph goes on his own he definitely has the tools to make it happen.”

Gore also had one catch that covered 40 yards.

Also standing out for the Warriors on Friday was safety Silas Mills, who had three interceptions to go with six tackles and more than 100 return yards.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.