MOUNTAIN CITY – It was a tough night for the youthful Chuckey-Doak football team as they made the long trip to Johnson County and struggled to contain running back Juan Mejia or block the Longhorns powerful defensive front in a 59-7 loss.
The loss to the No.5 team in Class 3A was the sixth straight for the Black Knights, but for the Chuckey-Doak coach Billy Kaylor feels like he is seeing growth from his group that has a starting lineup filled with freshmen and sophomores.
“That is a really good football team,” Chuckey-Doak coach Billy Kaylor said. “We’re making improvements. It’s hard to see on the scoreboard, but these kids are playing hard and getting better. These kids kept swinging, and that is a hard thing to do sometimes.”
The Black Knights fell behind 46-0 in the first half, but they never quit fighting and started the second half by marching 85 yards for a score. Freshman quarterback Kiptyn Ball did most of the damage with his arm, completing six passes for 65 yards.
The first of those completions was a 12-yard grab by Skylar Davis on the sideline that converted a third down. Freshman Mason Henderson made a tough grab going across the middle that picked up 16 yards. On third and long Ball found Dominic Hahnlan going up the seam from the slot for a 16-yard touchdown with forty seconds left in the third quarter.
“That drive was huge,” Kaylor said. “There is going to be a lot of bad stuff on the film to go back and review, but we did a lot of good things on that drive. We’re making strides and these kids have bought in. It’s just going to take time.”
In the fourth quarter Johnson County found the endzone two more times with Connor Gibson running in from the 11-yard line and Colton Grindstaff scoring from 25 yards away.
The first half was mostly a showcase of Mejia’s ability to evade defenders as he ran for 163 on 13 carries with three touchdowns. He also caught four passes for 64 yards and scored two more times. He added one carry in the second half to bring his rushing total to 172 yards.
On the Longhorns’ first drive of the night Davis made a play at the goal line, stepping in front of a Jace Stout pass in the end zone and returning it 30 yards.
Davis, another freshman, had two big first-quarter interceptions that kept the Black Knights in the game early.
“There were a lot bright spots from these young guys, and that was great to see out of Skylar,” Kaylor said. “The future is bright, but we have to keep improving.”
With 4:25 left in the first quarter Mejia found the end zone for the first time when he charged up the middle and broke to the home sideline for a 20-yard score. He then showed off his speed with a 45-yard touchdown run that ended the first quarter.
In the second quarter Chuckey-Doak’s mistakes began to mount and with short fields in front of them the Longhorns scored 32 points in the period.
Stout hit Landell Walker for a 13-touchdown, and after an interception by Grindstaff Mejia was in the endzone again with a 12-yard touchdown catch.
A bad snap was jumped on by Johnson County’s Ben Reece and that set up a 34-yard field goal by Benjamin Connor. Less than two minutes later another bad snap sailed out of the endzone for a safety and the Longhorns’ lead grew to 33-0.
Late in the second quarter Mejia took a screen pass 15 yards into the endzone, and then he scored on a 26-yard run for a 46-0 halftime lead.
