The Greeneville football team will open Region 1-4A action on Friday night with a trip to Rogersville to take on a Cherokee team that is off to its best start since 2019.
“It matters now. We want to win every game, but we’ve got to win region games,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen said. “We can’t stub our toe in a big game. We haven’t gone on the road yet, so this will be our first time getting on the bus. I’m looking forward to it, it’s a game that means a lot. Our ultimate goal is to be Region 1-4A champs, and we need to win this week to do that.”
The Chiefs have started the season 2-0 for the first time since 2019 when they began the year on a five-game win streak. At that time the Chiefs were under the leadership of current Greeneville offensive coordinator Cody Baugh.
Cherokee opened the season with a 35-28 win over Cocke County and followed it with a 35-21 win over David Crockett.
The Chiefs will be led by quarterback Landon Jeffers who last week ran for 76 yards and threw for 82 yards while accounting for a pair of touchdowns.
“They do some things on offense similar to Dobyns-Bennett and Tennessee High,” Spradlen said. “They like to use a tight end or H back, but they will also go three and four wide. They run similar plays to those two schools, but the quarterback will probably run it more than we have seen. We have to make sure we are playing our assignments.”
Last week in a 35-0 win over Dobyns-Bennett Greeneville senior running back Carson Quillen ran for 241 yards while quarterback Caden Baugh covered 140 yards on the ground. Spradlen expects the Chiefs to load the box to stop the run and knows his offense will need be prepared to use the short passing game to keep them honest.
He would like for Baugh to get the ball to receivers Zaydyn Anderson and Taren Claridy in space and let them beat Cherokee with their speed.
“They are going to try to crowd the line of scrimmage and stop our run game,” Spradlen said. “That will be most people’s game plan. We have to take advantage what they give us. If they are going to do that we have may need to throw some short balls and let our athletes make plays.”
Last year Greeneville won the matchup 69-0. The teams have met 32 times in their history with Greeneville leading the all-time series 24-8. Greeneville has won five straight meetings with Cherokee’s last win coming in 2006.
Earlier this week Greeneville announced that it had forfeited its season-opening, 54-7 win over Tennessee High due to playing an ineligible player. That makes the Greene Devils official record 1-1.
