Chuckey-Doak and West Greene traded blows on Thursday night in a rivalry slugfest, but it was the Black Knights who landed the last punch to secure a 21-12 win.
“This was a tough game. West Greene battled hard. I’m really proud of these kids, they battled adversity and they gutted out a win,” Chuckey-Doak Billy Kaylor said. “It continues to show how much these kids are growing, how much the culture is improving, and how much fight they have in them.”
The Black Knights were able to make the big plays on offense and get the big stops on defense when it mattered most to improve to 3-0 on the year.
“Wins are better than losses and its great to start 3-0 with some tough wins. But we have a tough one in Erwin next week and we have to keep working. We have had two really tough games the last two weeks, and I hope we have some resilience and toughness about us now. I think we do. We’re going to need that in a tough region.”
The night started with a series of empty possessions, but the second time Chuckey-Doak’s offense took the field Brody Myers took over at quarterback and gave the Black Knights a spark.
Myers first carry of the night went for 22 yards off tackle to the right. He and Avery Parkey traded attempts on the ground as the Black Knights moved 93 yards on five run plays. Myers capped the drive by keeping the ball on a read option and powering up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown.
Braylon Fox’s extra point made it 7-0 with 4:59 left in the first half.
The Black Knights’ defense forced a West Greene punt but after a penalty the offense was backed up on the three-yard line.
That was no problem for Kiptyn Ball who took the snap and immediately looked to his left. He saw Skylar Davis had quickly outpaced his defender and sent the ball deep. Davis ran under it, and then kept running, 97 yards later he was in the endzone. With 1:30 left before halftime the Knights were up 13-0.
“I just looked off the corner, threw it up, and let Skylar go get it,” Ball said. “We were backed up and I knew we couldn’t take a safety, so I got it to him quick. That was big to flip the game right there, going from backed up in our own endzone to up two touchdowns.”
There was more than enough time for West Greene to answer. A penalty on the Knights’ score pushed the kickoff back and a good return put the Buffaloes on their 48-yard line.
On the first play of the drive Aiden Thompson quickly delivered a strike to Hunter Franklin. The junior receiver did the rest, bursting loose and racing 52 yards for a score. The two-point try failed, but West Greene put a dent in the lead at 13-6.
Chuckey-Doak had two more chances to score before halftime, first failing on fourth down. But an interception by Brayden Greene set them up with two seconds left.
Chuckey-Doak had one play to cover 40 yards. Davis got 39 of those yards with a catch and run, but the Buffs pulled him down just shy of the goal line.
Davis finished the night with three catches for 176 yards and a touchdown, and he ran for an 18-yard touchdown.
West Greene further closed the gap on its first drive of the second half. Thompson hit his favorite target, Jagger Dearinger, on a post that covered 28 yards. Tristan Banks then covered 13 yards on a screen.
Rylan Miller took a pitch on an option play and powered his way into the endzone from five yards away.
Braxton Lowe thought he returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but it was called back on a hold.
Penalties stalled Chuckey-Doak’s offense for much of the second half, but the defense kept standing strong. West Greene’s final four drives end with two punts and two interceptions. Greene, Davis and Cobe Love all picked off passes for the Knights.
“We did a good job of creating pressure and we tackled really well in the front seven. Overall, these guys showed resilience and made big stops when it mattered,” Kaylor said.
With 4:16 left Chuckey-Doak was able to find a little breathing room and effectively put the game away. First Ball used a punishing run on fourth down to gain 10 yards and keep the chains moving. On the next play Ball handed to Davis on a jet sweep and the receiver followed Greene as his lead blocker to the pylon before crossing the goal line.
Now up seven points Kaylor elected to go for two, and make it a two-score game. It was Myers who shuffled to his right and found Lowe streaking across the back of the end zone. The conversion put Chuckey-Doak in front 21-12.
With less than two minutes left Banks found his stride and raced to a 52-yard gain that moved the Buffs into the redzone. Davis’ interception ended the threat and sealed the victory.
West Greene falls to 0-3 on the year and will be at Providence Academy next week looking for the first win of the Caleb Slover era.
Chuckey-Doak is now 3-0 and heads to Unicoi County next week to start Region 1-3A play.
The Black Knights finished Thursday with 408 yards of offense. They produced 195 yards on the ground split between seven different ball carriers. Myers led that effort with 80 yards on the ground to go with 48 passing yards and 13 receiving yards.
Ball threw for 165 yards with a touchdown. Davis had 194 all-purpose yards on four touches.
West Greene produced 297 yards of offense. Thompson threw for 243 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. Chuckey-Doak held the elusive Thompson to 20 rushing yards. Dearinger had five catches for 76 yards, Franklin had three catches for 77 yards and Banks had two catches for 65 yards.
