The Black Hole in Lower Afton is set for a battle of contrasting styles on Friday night as Sullivan East and Chuckey-Doak square off.
The Patriots threw for over 400 yards a week ago in their season opening win over Johnson County, and the Black Knights ran for over 300 yards in their week-one win over North Greene.
“It should be exciting test for us, we don’t see a lot of offenses like this. Hopefully we can reign in their passing game and run the ball a little bit to control the game,” Chuckey-Doak coach Billy Kaylor said.
Sullivan East’s air-raid attack proved tough to stop last week and it will put a lot of pressure on Chuckey-Doak’s secondary on Friday night. The toughest part about defending the system is that even if you play it right time after time, one miscue can change the game.
In the season opener East quarterback Grady Burke only completed 15 passes, but he averaged 27 yards per completion for 407 yards. His favorite target was Haden Jones who had seven catches for 182 yards. Ike Deel also crossed the century park with two catches for 104 yards. Colton Laisure had two touchdown catches.
A week ago against North Greene Chuckey-Doak allowed touchdown passes of 49, 42 and 55 yards, and Kaylor knows he will need fewer busts on the back end to beat the Patriots.
“Sullivan East is an air raid team that throws the ball a ton. There will be a lot of vertical shots,” Kaylor said. “They are going to throw the heck out if it. They only ran it a couple of times the whole game against Johnson County. We have to be good on the back end or the scoreboard could light up really fast.”
On the other sideline Chuckey-Doak proved a week ago that it can find success on the ground no matter who takes the handoff. As a team Chuckey-Doak spread the ball around to four running backs and churned out 325 yards.
Brayden Greene scored two touchdowns, Zayden Schake had 95 yards, Avery Parkey had 12 carries for 76 yards and Marcus Britt went for 64 yards and a touchdown. In total eight different Black Knights carried the ball against North Greene.
Kaylor expects East to load the box on Friday in an effort to stop the run, and that means the Knights will have to make plays on the edge to keep the defense honest. They have receivers that can make guys miss and last week Skylar Davis, Braxton Lowe and Cobe Love all found the end zone.
“I imagine they will give us a heavy box, I assume we’ll see a lot of cover three and cover four. We have to get the ball to perimeter and try to open that box up so that we can run the ball,” Kaylor said.
A year ago Chuckey-Doak won in Bluff City 38-21, it was the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Last week’s 41-0 win over Johnson County snapped a 17-game losing streak for the Patriots. Sullivan East went 0-10 in 2025 and 1-9 in 2024. Chuckey-Doak is coming off of a 4-6 campaign in 2025.
