It’s rivalry week in Lower Afton as West Greene travels to Chuckey-Doak for a Friday-night show down.
The game is no longer a region matchup, but bragging rights are on the line as both teams try to get the best of their friends from the other side of Greene County.
“These county rivalries are important. When you play small-town football the county rivalries are the games everybody shows up for,” West Greene coach Evan Monroe said. “I expect a great atmosphere and a great place to play. It will be a great time for some small-school high school football. Then these kids know each other, they go to church together, they work together, and that means bragging rights are involved. Games like this are so important to high school football.”
For Chuckey-Doak it will also be the home opener. For many of the young Black Knights it will be their first time stepping on the field in varsity action in front of the home crowd, and head coach Billy Kaylor expects it to be an exciting time for many on his squad.
“We’re excited to get our fans in here, Lower Afton is a fun place to play football,” Kaylor said. “It’s a chance to let these young kids experience what it is like to play here. A lot of these kids have grown up watching games here, and now it’s the first time they will get to be on the field on a Friday night. This is a chance for some of those kids to build their own traditions.”
Both teams come into the game with a 1-1 record. Chuckey-Doak started the season with a 71-46 win over Unaka, but then fell to Grainger 42-21. West Greene opened its season with a 32-16 win over North Greene, but then fell to Cloudland 30-0 last week.
Both teams will be looking to get back on track this week.
Both teams enter Friday’s contest relying on a talented, dual-threat, first-year quarterbacks. For West Greene that is Austin Franklin and for Chuckey-Doak its Dom Atchison.
Defensively West Greene will also have to worry about running back Hayden Roper who against Unaka ran for a school-record 366 yards and six touchdowns. Last week against Grainger he still managed to run for 140 yards in the loss.
“When you watch him run, we whiffed up front and missed some blocking assignments, but he runs hard and breaks tackles,” Kaylor said. “Then once he gets to the second level he’s running wide open and stiff arming guys. When he runs like a man possessed it’s pretty fun to watch. He runs way bigger than he is. He’s the kind of kid you want toting the ball.”
For West Greene Franklin has been the focus of the offense, primarily with his feet. Against North Greene he ran for 164 yards, but the Highlanders bottled up the Buffaloes’ whole offense a week ago. This week Monroe expects Chuckey-Doak to load the box, and West Greene will try to get more done in the passing game to keep them honest.
“They will put eight in the box and they will be looking to stop the run,” Monroe said. “We’ve been very one dimensional so far this year. We have worked a lot on our short passing game this week to try to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands a little quicker. We need to complete some dinks and dunks to make them work on defense. We can’t let them put eight or nine in the box and bring the house every play. We have to keep them honest.”
Last year Chuckey-Doak won the meeting 40-6. The Black Knights have won the last four meetings and lead the all-time series 30-18.
