CHURCH HILL – Chuckey-Doak made its first-ever trip to Church Hill on Friday night and left it all on the field, but fell short in a 37-34 loss to Volunteer.
“I’m incredibly proud of how hard our kids fought. Frustrated for them because it hurts losing one like that. We played really well on both sides of the football at times. It just wasn’t quite enough. That’s a good football team. We have to refocus and get ready for Pigeon Forge and go get a win,” Chuckey-Doak Head Coach Billy Kaylor said.
The Black Knights played fantastic on defense and forced six turnovers and moved down the field effectively on offense, but just couldn’t get a stop when it was needed most for a win. Although Chuckey-Doak’s defense allowed 481 yards and 37 points, it forced six turnovers (five in the first half) and helped the Black Knights stay in the game.
Even though Volunteer never punted, Chuckey-Doak stayed within reach all game and had a chance to build a comeback attempt late. Chuckey-Doak’s hopes were dashed when a late onside kick attempt was recovered by Volunteer to seal it.
Last year Volunteer scored a program-record 70 points and defeated Chuckey-Doak, 70-0, in Lower Afton. Flash forward a year later and the Black Knights had the Falcons on the ropes. The improvements from last year to this year were evident and noticed by Volunteer Head Coach Jeremy Wagner who spoke to Chuckey-Doak’s team in the post-game huddle after filling his media obligations early.
Chuckey-Doak Assistant Coach Jason Hensley spoke in the postgame huddle about Friday night’s game having the feel of a playoff game. Coach Kaylor described how much Friday’s battle will help going forward.
“It’s going to be important if you want to have a chance to win a playoff game. We went toe-to-toe with a 4A team that’s gone toe-to-toe with their region. It’s a good football team and we continued to battle,” Kaylor said.
The Black Knights were balanced on offense all night and delivered 347 yards, 178 rushing and 169 passing in the loss.
The running game was led by Marcus Britt with 11 rushes for 77 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Brayden Greene ran 17 times for 66 yards.
Kiptyn Ball started at quarterback on Friday and played every snap under center. He was 16-for-28 for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Both touchdowns Ball tossed went to freshman Brody Myers who finished with six catches for 51 yards. Avery Parkey and Marcus Britt led the way in tackles with five each.
Chuckey-Doak fell to 5-3 in the loss.
Volunteer started their opening drive at their own 23. The Falcons seemed to strike fast with a long touchdown play to Gunner Allen, but Allen fumbled on his own at the 13-yard line before the ball bounced around and was recovered by Chuckey-Doak’s Colton Kaufenberg. Turnover number one for the Falcons.
Chuckey-Doak crossed over into Volunteer territory with a 57-yard reception by Braxton Lowe, but the drive stalled out with a missed 41-yard field goal attempt.
Volunteer marched down the field with a 52-yard reception by Jansen Arnold and an 11-yard run by Jameson Mowell, but another turnover ensued. Mowell was flushed out and threw a jump ball up to a group of five players near the pylon. Marcus Britt came down with the ball and toe-tapped the sideline for an interception at the two-yard line.
When the celebration died down on Chuckey-Doak’s sideline, it soon began on Volunteer’s. The Black Knights were stuffed in the backfield on the first play against their goal line for a safety.
Volunteer led 2-0 with 28 seconds left in the first quarter, but it was not done scoring yet. Bryton Landry rushed 60 yards into the end zone on the first play from scrimmage following the free kick and sent the Falcons ahead 10-0 after a successful two-point conversion.
The celebration also didn’t last long for Volunteer because Skylar Davis would strike for the Knights. The junior took a 71-yard kickoff return to the end zone for a touchdown and made it 10-7 on the first play of the second quarter.
Turnover number three happened on fourth down when Brody Myers intercepted a pass at the 33-yard line. The Black Knights marched down the field and chewed almost six minutes off the game clock before completing a 67-yard drive in the end zone.
Cobe Love put them in the red zone with a catch to the right. Greene powered his way to the one. A run for loss set Chuckey-Doak up at the three on third down. Britt ran left side near the tackle and reached the ball across for six and the Black Knights took a 14-10 lead with 3:33 left in the half.
Freshman Avery Parkey was responsible for turnover number four with a fumble recovery on Volunteer’s first play on the ensuing drive. Chuckey-Doak committed their own turnover on the next play. A deep ball to the end zone seemed to be caught by Skylar Davis, but the Volunteer defender came away with it and the ruling was an interception.
Fortunately for Chuckey-Doak, turnover number five was moments away. Lance Turner-Armstrong and Braxton Lowe teamed up for a tackle at the two-yard line when the ball popped out on the way down and Lowe recovered it.
Chuckey-Doak went into the half leading 14-10.
On Volunteer’s first play of the third quarter Lance Turner-Armstrong recovered a fumble for the Black Knights and set up shop on their own 28-yard line. The drive ended with a turnover-on-downs on Volunteer’s 26-yard line.
Volunteer regained the lead with a 49-yard receiving touchdown from Jansen Arnold. The Falcons led 18-14 with 7:49 left in the third after another successful two-point try.
Chuckey-Doak punted and set Volunteer up with the best field position all night at the Black Knight 45-yard line. The Falcons ran three minutes off the clock before reaching the end zone again with a four-yard rushing touchdown by Xavier Shivers. Volunteer led 24-14 with 2:30 remaining in the third.
Chuckey-Doak responded with a two-and-a-half-minute drive resulting in a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Britt on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Knights trailed 24-21.
It only took 1:20 for Volunteer to respond with a touchdown. Bryton Landry hauled in a 30-yard receiving touchdown and extended the Falcons’ lead to 30-21 with 10:24 left.
Chuckey-Doak moved methodically down the field and used over six minutes of game clock to find the end zone, again with a three-yard touchdown pass from Ball to Myers. The Black Knights trailed 30-28 with 4:07 left.
“Brody played fantastic. He’s a great player and a great kid. Super coachable and plays super physical. Super proud of him,” Coach Kaylor stated.
Volunteer seemingly put the game on ice with an improbable 22-yard catch-and-run by Kenyan Maxwell resulting in a touchdown, but that’s right when the excitement and drama began. A celebration of sorts resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and backed Volunteer up 15 yards on the extra point. The 34-yard extra point was no good and gave Chuckey-Doak life only down one possession, 36-28, with 2:13 to go. But a dreadful roughing the kicker penalty gave Volunteer another shot at the kick from 29 yards out this time. The kick was good from 29 and Volunteer seemingly iced it by taking a 37-28 lead.
Chuckey-Doak marched downfield and scored late in only 1:28 to make it interesting with the aid of unsportsmanlike conduct, unnecessary roughness, and pass interference penalties on Volunteer. Ball found Myers from seven yards out on 3rd-&-goal and cut it to 37-34 with 40 seconds left.
Ball tossed a pair of touchdown passes on Friday and racked up 169 yards in the air.
“I thought he played well and threw the ball well,” Coach Kaylor said.
The Black Knights weren’t able to recover the onside kick and ran out of timeouts, and time in general, and suffered a tough 37-34 loss in a wacky game at Volunteer High School.
Chuckey-Doak’s record drops to 5-3 with the loss.
The Black Knights hit the bye week next week and host Pigeon Forge in two weeks in an important Region 1-3A contest with a chance to clinch a postseason berth.
