The Greeneville football team has a big test in front of it on Friday night as Dobyns-Bennett travels to Burley stadium looking to settle a score that has been waiting for more than a year.
Both teams are coming off big wins last week and will be looking to build on that momentum on Friday.
“We are going to be ready for a big-time football game,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen said. “We are going to be playing a really good Dobyns-Bennett team that is coming off of a big win over Farragut. It’s going to be a challenge for us, but a challenge we are excited about. I expect it to feel like a playoff atmosphere on Friday night.”
Last week Greeneville started its season with a 54-7 win over Tennessee High while Dobyns-Bennett took down Farragut 27-20. Last year’s meeting between the two schools ended in a 14-14 deadlock when the game was halted because of lighting. Officially the game went down as a no contest.
In last week’s season opener Greene Devil fans got their first viewing of Caden Baugh as Greeneville’s starting quarterback, and the junior did not disappoint. He was 7-of-10 passing for 118 yards, and ran for 147 yards with three touchdowns.
With Baugh joining senior Carson Quillen in the backfield Greeneville has a dangerous duo running the ball, and Spradlen thinks Baugh’s success will open things up for the All-State running back.
“We have two guys in the backfield that are explosive players,” Spradlen said. “Every defense we play is going to be focused on containing Carson Quillen. All eyes are going to be on Carson Quillen and last week that opened up things for Caden. I talked to Caden before the game last week and told him not to try to do too much, if the throw isn’t there, run it. We probably called two or three designed runs, but he did a great job of reading the zone and being smart with the football.”
Spradlen expects the Indians to bring a balanced offensive attack into Friday’s contest, but they will be down two running backs that were injured last week against the Admirals. Quarterback Austin Sykes will lead the way for D-B. Last week he threw for 183 yards and ran for 59, including the go-ahead score. Sykes favorite target was tight end Peyton Franklin who caught eight passes for 107 yards. Franklin, who is a converted running back is the player Spradlen is most concerned about heading into Friday’s matchup.
Friday will be the 42nd meeting between the Indians and Greene Devils and Dobyns-Bennett leads the all-time series 31-9. Greeneville has won the last five meetings between the two programs, including a 21-20 victory in 2022 that ended in a final minute two-point conversion stop.
Friday night’s action will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Burley Stadium.
