Chuckey Doak and West Greene’s middle school football teams battled for more than 31 minutes in a defensive slugfest Thursday night on the Range.
It wasn’t until Jullian Overstreet called his own number and raced 17 yards for a touchdown with just two seconds remaining that the deadlock was finally broken, giving the Black Knights their first win of the season, 6-0.
“It wasn’t pretty, but I am extremely happy for these eighth graders and our team,” said Chuckey Doak head coach Nick Quillen. “We stayed in the game and fought for the entire game. We came in winless, and we came out with a win.”
The Black Knights finished with 116 yards of total offense, led by Christopher Roper’s 53 yards rushing and Overstreet’s 33 yards. West Greene managed 78 total yards, paced by Cooper Jones with 31 yards rushing and 26 yards passing.
The opening quarter set the tone for the defensive battle that would continue for most of the night, with each team getting just one possession.
Chuckey Doak took the opening kickoff and began at its own 49-yard line following a facemask penalty. The Black Knights moved the ball all the way to the West Greene 32, but a bad snap backed them up to the 43, and they eventually turned the ball over on downs.
West Greene took over at its own 45 and drove to the Black Knight 38 behind the running of Bradley Bowman. However, two straight false-start penalties to end the opening quarter and a snap infraction to begin the second backed the Buffaloes up across midfield to their own 47. Two plays later, West Greene also turned the ball over on downs.
The Black Knights took over but almost immediately gave the ball back to the Buffaloes when Caleb Barrington stepped in front of an Overstreet pass and returned it to the Chuckey Doak 9-yard line, setting up a first-and-goal opportunity.
West Greene appeared poised to take advantage, but penalties once again proved costly. A holding call backed the Buffaloes up to the 19, and after they moved the ball back to the 8, a false start pushed them back to the 13.
Jones took the snap on fourth down and powered his way to the 3-yard line, but the Black Knight defense stood firm and took over on downs.
West Greene appeared to have another prime scoring opportunity when its defense recovered a fumble after Chuckey Doak’s Roper had the ball slip from his grasp while fighting for extra yards at the 5-yard line.
Once again, penalties hampered the Buffaloes, and the Black Knight defense turned them away, sending the teams into halftime scoreless.
Quillen praised his defense for keeping West Greene off the scoreboard.
“That was extremely huge. If they score any time in the first half, then we’re probably walking away with a loss.”
The third quarter began with West Greene recovering an onside kick at midfield. Two plays later, Chuckey Doak regained the momentum when Drake Thompson intercepted an Overstreet pass after the Overstreet tipped the ball away from the intended receiver.
The Black Knights controlled the ball for the majority of the quarter before turning it over on downs at the West Greene 32 with 1:39 remaining.
The Buffaloes carried the possession into the fourth quarter and managed to move the ball to the Chuckey Doak 13. Once again, however, the Black Knight defense refused to break, stopping West Greene short on fourth-and-three and taking over at its own 12 with 3:51 remaining.
That defensive stand set up the game-winning drive.
Overstreet took the first play out to the 26 for a 14-yard gain before Roper added nine more yards to move the ball to the 35.
After a 2-yard loss, Chuckey Doak faced what proved to be the key play of the game.
With less than two minutes remaining in the scoreless contest, the Black Knights faced fourth-and-four. Roper broke off the right side for a 16-yard gain, keeping the drive alive and giving Chuckey Doak a new set of downs.
From there, Overstreet and the Black Knight offense remained composed, moving the ball to the West Greene 17 with two runs by Roper and two completions from Overstreet to Roper and Preston Baker.
After two attempts to find Roper in the end zone came up empty, Overstreet caught the Buffaloes’ defense off guard. He tucked the ball and raced around the left side, going 17 yards for the only touchdown of the game.
The two-point conversion failed, but Chuckey Doak had a 6-0 lead with just two seconds remaining.
An excited Overstreet described what he saw on the game-winning drive.
“I saw the backside end crashing a lot, giving us a lot of open space, and I was able to run it in. That was super big being our first win, but we have more to do.”
West Greene had one final opportunity, but although some of the Black Knights began celebrating as the kickoff took place, the Buffaloes were unable to produce a return and the clock expired.
Chuckey Doak will close out the season next week against Church Hill.
