Chuckey-Doak welcomed Sullivan East to Lower Afton for the first time on Friday night and made enough tough plays late to defeat the Patriots 20-15.
“It was a great win. Defensively, could not be more proud. They spent most of the game on the field and I’d hate to see how many offensive plays we ran. To keep responding to a team that kept stretching us so much vertically is fantastic. Super proud of the defense. Great win against a pretty good football team,” Chuckey-Doak Head Coach Billy Kaylor stated.
The score may not indicate it, but Friday’s contest was an exciting one. The Black Knights defense came to play. Chuckey-Doak forced two turnovers, three turnover-on-downs, and stopped Sullivan East short of the end zone as time expired going into halftime. The Patriots won the time of possession by a wide margin, but Chuckey-Doak made the big plays when they needed to the most.
It was Skylar Davis’s night on offense. The junior finished Friday night with three total touchdowns. On defense, it was Braxton Lowe’s night. Lowe had two interceptions and helped quiet down Sullivan East’s air-raid attack.
The Black Knights improved to 2-0 with the win. It’s the second-consecutive season with a 2-0 start.
Many expected Friday night’s showdown to be a high-scoring classic, but that wasn’t the case. The game started with four empty possessions. Chuckey-Doak received the opening kickoff, but the first drive resulted in a three-and-out. The Knights locked down on defense and forced a turnover-on-downs with Sullivan East marching down the field. Mason Henderson’s pass breakup ended the drive.
Chuckey-Doak freshman quarterback Brody Myers began the next drive and picked up multiple first downs before ending the drive prematurely. A first down run aided by a facemask call moved the sticks. An 11-yard run followed and an 8-yard catch by Marcus Britt on 3rd down delivered two more firsts. Skylar Davis had what looked to be his first touchdown of the night with a 44-yard catch, but it was called back due to holding. A play later Ike Deel intercepted the ball and forced a turnover.
The first quarter ended halfway through Sullivan East’s next drive with the score knotted at 0-0. The Patriots came up empty again with another turnover-on-downs in the red zone on a 4th-&-8 play at the 18-yard line.
The Black Knights wasted little time on the next possession before finding the end zone. Braxton Lowe picked up 12 yards in a 3rd-and-long situation. Skylar Davis scored his first touchdown of the night a play later turning on the jets for a 70-yard reception from junior quarterback Kiptyn Ball. The PAT was good and Chuckey-Doak led 7-0 with 10:01 left in the second.
The Patriots ended with another fruitless possession and yet another turnover-on-downs in the redzone. Keyan Bare picked up 26 yards on a screen pass to cross the 50-yard line. Mason Henderson broke up another pass and delivered a big hit along the sideline, but was flagged for a late hit and caused the ball to cross into the redzone. The Patriots faced another 4th-&-goal situation and the play was stopped by Anthony Johnson’s sack in the backfield.
Sullivan East received the ball back after another Chuckey-Doak punt and had 3:55 to work with before the half. The Patriots marched down the field and converted two 4th down plays and seemingly felt like it was destined for them to score. Chuckey-Doak jumped offsides on 4th-&-5 and granted a new pair of sticks. Sullivan East’s 34-yard touchdown was called back with 2:16 left and put them further back, but they still found a way to pick up the first down after a 26-yard catch and a 4th-down conversion. Quarterback Grady Burke scrambled to the 11-yard line and set up one last play before the half. Burke scrambled to the left and was stopped short of the goal line and taken down at the 2-yard line to end the first half.
Chuckey-Doak led 7-0 at the break.
As if Sullivan East’s luck had been bad in the first half, it didn’t get any better to start the second half. The Patriots faced a long 4th-&-19 situation and were stopped 2 yards short again for yet another turnover-on-downs.
Everything did change shortly after and the game’s fireworks started igniting. Chuckey-Doak set up for a punt in their own end zone and a bad snap sailed out of the back of the end zone for a safety. Chuckey-Doak led 7-2 with 5:39 left in the third.
Sullivan East marched a short 41 yards down the field in 4 minutes and 55 seconds and finally found the end zone. Even in a scoring drive, Chuckey-Doak’s defense had some big plays. Skylar Nelson had a TFL and Brayden Greene had a TFL on 2nd-&-5 for a loss of seven. The Patriots successfully converted a 4th-&-long play and kept the drive going. Austin Warren scored a 9-yard touchdown following his blockers to the end zone on a screen pass on 3rd-&-goal. Sullivan East led 8-7 with 36 seconds left in the third.
What Chuckey-Doak giveth, Skylar Davis taketh. Davis wasted no time giving Chuckey-Doak the lead again with an 80-yard kickoff return touchdown for six. The two-point attempt failed and Chuckey-Doak led 13-8 with 18 seconds left until the fourth.
We didn’t even reach the fourth quarter yet before another big moment occurred. Braxton Lowe hauled in an interception on the next play from scrimmage to give Chuckey-Doak the ball heading into the fourth.
“Big time player. He was Underclassmen Player of the Year in the region last year for a reason. He’s a heck of a football player,” Coach Kaylor stated.
“I read the quarterback really well on that one. I saw an open guy and I rushed over there and found the ball and got it,” Lowe explained.
It didn’t take long before Kiptyn Ball found Skylar Davis again and Davis found the end zone again for the third time. Davis hauled in a catch and made a move towards the end zone and shrugged off defenders for a 20-yard receiving touchdown. The PAT split the uprights and Chuckey-Doak led 20-8 with 9:47 to go.
“He’s a super electric player and it’s fun to watch him continue to grow as a young man and as an athlete. He’s super electric,” Coach Kaylor described.
“It was sweet. It was the best touchdown of my life. It felt so good. It felt so good to win,” Davis said.
Sullivan East moved quickly and scored in just over two minutes with an 18-yard touchdown strike from Grady Burke to Ike Deel. The Patriots trailed 20-15 with 7:31 left.
Chuckey-Doak punted it with 4:02 remaining and set up for one last defensive stop to win the game. Sullivan East started at the 12-yard line on the drive. The Patriots barely had it for a minute before Braxton Lowe’s second interception of the game all-but sealed the win with 3:01 remaining.
The Black Knights were penalized for two different offenses and were backed up in a 2nd-&-35 situation on the 43-yard line with 50 seconds to go and looked like the Patriots had a sliver of hope left. Then Brody Myers happened.
The freshman hauled in a huge game-sealing catch and was dragged down at the 1-yard line. The Black Knights respectfully, and wisely, elected to knee the ball twice to seal the deal and leave Lower Afton happy with a 20-15 win over Sullivan East.
“Offensively, we struggled a lot tonight. They had a heck of a defensive game plan and it really took us out of what we wanted to do. So, we had to kind of adjust there and do some different things. Our kids did a great job of responding,” Coach Kaylor said. He left off with, “Hard one as a coach and it gives me gray hairs, but we came out with a win and that’s what’s important.”
Chuckey-Doak improved to 2-0 while Sullivan East dropped to 1-1. Chuckey-Doak moves to 2-0 all-time vs. Sullivan East.
“It’s great. The kids had a good week of practice and have worked so hard in the offseason and deserve it. Super proud of them. We gotta go back to work on Monday for a good West Greene team,” Kaylor stated.
The Black Knights host West Greene next Thursday night for a cross-county battle. The game will be broadcast as our Bachman-Bernard Game Of The Week Presented By Tommie’s Plumbing.
