RUTLEDGE – Chuckey-Doak traveled to Grainger looking to earn its third-consecutive win over the Grizzlies, but were sent back home with a 42-21 loss in Rutledge on Friday night.
“They are a well-coached football team. They’re big and physical. They play downhill really well. We just struggled at times in multiple places and we’ll go back to the lab on Monday and try to get better,” Chuckey-Doak head coach Billy Kaylor stated.
The Black Knights made some mistakes on their own that would cost them in the end, but ultimately couldn’t contain a hot Grainger offense that controlled the line of scrimmage all night. They shared the wealth and put three different ball carriers in the end zone. The Grizzlies forced Chuckey-Doak to turn the ball over twice and capitalized with touchdowns on both of the drives that followed.
“We just couldn’t seem to get out of our own way on both sides of the ball,” Kaylor mentioned. “We just didn’t put it all together well tonight. The kid’s played really hard and I’m proud of how hard they played against a very big and very physical Grainger team. We just came up on the short end of it tonight.”
Chuckey-Doak falls to 1-1 with the loss and Grainger improves to 2-0.
Grainger received the opening kickoff and went right to work in the ground game. After a few short gains, a 32-yard run by Payton Taylor picked up a big 3rd-&-5 for the Grizzlies and set them up with the chance to score. They did so by way of the pass game with a 20-yard passing touchdown from Ashton Taylor to Jackson Richey. The extra point failed and they led 6-0 with 9:53 left in the first.
It did not take long for Chuckey-Doak to respond. Skylar Davis received the ensuing kickoff and took the rock home for an 82-yard kickoff return touchdown to throw Chuckey-Doak in front 7-6 after Billy Hahnlen’s point after.
“He’s a special player. We talked about him in the preseason. He’s just a freshman. He made some good plays on defense. He’s gonna be a really, really good player as he continues to develop,” Coach Kaylor bragged.
The Grizzlies answered with a long scoring drive that took four minutes and thirty-four seconds to complete. James Seidl seemed to have stopped the drive with a sack for a loss of five yards, but a 15-yard reception by Brizen Solomon gave them a new set of downs on 3rd-&-15. Dawson Fowler broke off a big 34-yard run for another first down before being brought down in the red zone. Brayden Greene sacked the quarterback on 2nd-&-5 for a loss of seven, but another strong run by Garrett Patterson put them at the 1-yard line.
Colton Parrott ran it up the gut for a quick touchdown to put Grainger back ahead 14-7. Fowler added the two-point conversion.
Both teams traded punts before Chuckey-Doak would have their most successful drive of the first half. Hayden Roper started with a run of seven and Dominique Atchison followed with a first-down run. Atchison connected with Hayden Greene for another first down before Roper broke off a long 40-yard run that ended up putting them in the red zone.
The drive would come to an unfortunate end after a fumbled handoff was recovered by Caleb Arnwine.
Grainger took advantage of that fumble and go on a long drive with five-straight first downs on huge chunk plays. Ashton Taylor and Luke Davis delivered back-to-back first downs on long run plays. Dawson Fowler did the same and carried the rock for three-straight first downs next.
Aiden Dalton finished the drive with a 7-yard sweep play that resulted in another Grainger touchdown and sent them ahead 20-7.
Another inopportune turnover on Grainger’s side of the field killed another hopeful drive. Dominic Hahnlen managed to draw pass interference to guarantee them a new set of sticks, but another fumble ended the drive. Aiden Dalton recovered the ball.
As they did before, Grainger capitalized on that drive and went right down and scored before the half. Dawson Fowler gained 17 yards on a run that included a hurdle over a Black Knight defender. Aiden Dalton picked up 14 yards next on another run play. Fowler completed the drive with a 4-yard touchdown that helped Grainger walk into halftime with a 28-7 lead once Dalton added the extra two points on his feet.
The Black Knights got off to a bad start in the second half as their first drive resulted in a three-and-out. It got even worse when they seemed to have Grainger stopped and forced them into a 4th-&-6 situation, but a wild 28-yard catch in double coverage by Brizen Solomon resulted in a touchdown. The Grizzlies led 35-7.
On their next drive, Chuckey-Doak would see Roper make a mad dash 59 yards downfield but that was all the drive would see. They would soon find the end zone for two scores to close out the game, but not before Grainger added one last touchdown.
Luke Davis carried the ball all the way down inside the 10-yard line for a 57-yard run that set up Ashton Taylor for a 1-yard touchdown dash to the left pylon. They led 42-7 before Chuckey-Doak added two late scores.
The Dom-to-Dom connection made its return to the field as Dominique Atchison found Dominic Hahnlen downfield for a 57-yard touchdown strike. Chuckey-Doak got the ball back again after Marcus Britt jumped on a loose ball and recovered a fumble. They went back to work in the ground game and saw Hayden Roper break inside the red zone with a run of 21 yards. Dom Atchison finished the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run on a read-option play.
“He’s really growing. He threw the ball a little bit better on time tonight. He had some protection issues at times, but he did some really good things with his feet and arms. I’m proud of how he’s developing and I expect some big things the further we get into the season,” Kaylor spoke about Atchison.
The Black Knights would fall 42-21 in the end.
They suit up next week for an important county rivalry game with West Greene. That game is set for a 7:00 start time in Lower Afton on Friday night.
Tune in as the game will serve as next week’s Korner Pawn Friday Night Lights Presented by McAfee & McAfee PLLC and Tommie’s Plumbing Game of the Week presentation on the Grassroots Media Facebook page.
