Chuckey-Doak celebrated a week one win over North Greene to snap an eight-game losing streak and started the season 1-0. All that is behind the Black Knights now as they turn their attention to Sullivan East this week in a tough road matchup in Bluff City.
It will be the first meeting all-time between both programs. Head Coach Billy Kaylor knows heading into Friday night that the Patriots pose a tough challenge being in a higher classification (4A) and entering a tough road environment.
“Another good football team. They do a good job up there. They throw it all around the yard and with the run-and-shoot style offense they run. Certainly going to stress us on the back end defensively. We’ve made some huge improvements there but we haven’t played a team like this since I’ve been here, that’s going to throw the ball quite as much as they do,” Coach Kaylor stated.
Chuckey-Doak won their opening contest at home 39-30 and Sullivan East lost theirs on the road in Mountain City against Johnson County 26-21. Just like Chuckey-Doak did a week prior, the Patriots are looking to snap an 8-game losing streak dating back to last season.
Brayden Greene ran wild for 270 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but the Black Knights were still balanced in their attack and had five different players score their six touchdowns last week. Quarterback Kiptyn Ball rushed for a touchdown and passed for two in last week’s win for a trio of touchdowns. The sophomore will look to keep up that same level of play in this week’s matchup to go along with a number of playmakers he can get the ball too.
Sullivan East’s defense could present problems to Chuckey-Doak’s young offensive line with the amount of pressure they will bring when trying to get to the backfield.
Coach Kaylor explained by saying, “They are going to bring a lot of pressure. They’ll bring six or seven. It’s not uncommon to see them bring a six-man pressure. A lot of teams are more conservative with their pressure, but they are bringing it from all over the place.”
The Black Knight defense held North Greene to 235 yards of offense last Friday and will look to contain Sullivan East’s offense and hold them to the same amount. The Patriots will air it out more times than not and keep the Black Knight secondary on their toes for a full 48 minutes.
After a game like last Friday night with a slew of penalties, Coach Kaylor is aiming to cut down on those costly mistakes and be better disciplined.
“We have to be cleaner penalty wise. We can’t remove that much yardage from ourselves,” he expressed.
Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM on Friday night in Bluff City at Sullivan East High School.
