Chuckey-Doak (1-7, 0-4) hits the road for one final game on Friday night for their season finale against Region 1-3A competitor Gatlinburg-Pittman (6-3, 3-1).
The small group of Black Knight seniors have one more opportunity to strap on their helmet and pads and wear the name Chuckey-Doak across their chest. Even though their season will come to an end once the clock hits zeros, Coach Billy Kaylor still wants them to play with pride and finish strong.
“You want the guys to continue to finish strong,” Coach Kaylor mentioned. “It’s a hard week knowing the outcome of the season regardless of the outcome of the game. Not having the playoffs to look forward to is certainly hard.”
Chuckey-Doak’s playoff hopes were dashed with their 48-0 loss last week against Unicoi. The game also served as senior night for the five seniors on this year’s squad. Their season and high school careers won’t end the way they wanted, but they have one final chance to have fun on the gridiron this week.
The Highlanders of Gatlinburg-Pittman are the defending champions of the region and will have the opportunity to claim another region title with some much-needed help from Unicoi County in Erwin. With a Unicoi win, that forces a three-way tie that would grant GP another title. For the Black Knights, the opportunity sits in front of them to ruin that opportunity and play spoiler.
They are 6-3 with a 3-1 record against regional opponents and average 31 points-per-game and only allow 14 points on defense. They have held eight of their nine opponents to 21 or less points.
Gone are the days of Carlos Orr and Whitman Whaley terrorizing secondaries with Brady Hammond at quarterback. The Highlanders present a lot of new faces with those playmakers gone from the picture, but still present a lot of the same looks on offense.
“They are a little bit different stylistically, but they are really good up front and are going to run the ball and run power and buck. Their quarterback is mobile so they’re going to run some with him. I think they will probably take a few less down-the-field shots than last year. They were pretty stacked out wide last year with those two kids who went to Illinois and Wake Forest. When you lose guys like that it changes your style a little bit, but they are still very explosive, very athletic, and really good up front,” Kaylor expressed.
Chuckey-Doak’s offense has struggled to move the ball in recent weeks and have only averaged eight points-per-game in their last four outings. They average 18 points on the season. They have allowed 47 points-per-game through eight contests.
Freshman quarterback Kiptyn Ball and senior tailback Hayden Roper will lead the Black Knights on Friday night as Chuckey-Doak’s top playmakers. The Black Knights are 0-10 all time versus Gatlinburg.
