Fans of Greene County football will be treated to another cross-county rivalry on Friday night as Chuckey-Doak heads to Rebel Hill to take on South Greene.
The game does not have region implications, but bragging rights that sometimes last a lifetime will be on the line.
“Chuckey-Doak and South Greene is always a tough game,” South Greene head coach Shawn Jones said. “It’s a big rivalry game. We’ll be friends with them before the game and after the game, but during the game we don’t like Chuckey-Doak. You are going to know those guys the rest of your life. My senior year Chuckey-Doak beat us 3-2 and I have some friends over there that still remind me of it. I think it will be exciting to get the Black Knights in here on Friday night.”
The Rebels enter the game coming off a 42-0 win over Cumberland and sit a 1-1 on the young season. In the win running backs Nash Rader and Tripp Neas both had big games and quarterback Jacob Susong distributed the ball with efficiency.
Chuckey-Doak will have to be prepared to stop both the run and pass attacks of the Rebels, but coach Billy Kaylor feels like Friday will be a good opportunity for his young squad to build an identity.
The Black Knights are coming off of a 27-13 loss to West Greene a week ago and have fallen to 1-2 after a 71-46 season-opening win over Unaka. Chuckey-Doak’s defense is giving up 38.33 points per game, and they will have to improve on that on Friday to beat the Rebels.
“South Greene is a very good football team. They are very talented at multiple positions,” Kaylor said. “They have done some good things so far. They have a very talented runner and a quarterback that can spin it. South Greene is going to be competing for a region championship, and getting a win on Friday would be a huge shot in the arm before we head into region play. We are going to have to give it our best swing. As a coach that’s what you want. You want to give your best, you want to take their best and see where things fall at the end of the night.”
The Black Knights are expected to be without some key contributors due to injury, but quarterback Dom Atchison is expected to be on the field and the Rebels will have to be worried about what he can do with both his arm and legs. Last week against West Greene he broke off an 82-yard touchdown run.
In last year’s meeting South Greene earned a 34-20 win. The last team to have a win streak in the series is South Greene who won in 2018 and 2019. South Greene leads the all-time series 37-12. The Rebels own the longest streak in the series with 18-straight wins from 1993 through 2010. Chuckey-Doak’s longest streak is five games from 2011 through 2015.
