The Unaka Rangers will saddle up and make a long trip to Cosby High School, where they will try to wrangle the Eagles Friday.
For the Eagles, this will be their season opener. Last season, Cosby closed out their season by making the trip to Unaka, where they got the best of the Rangers 48-6. However, the Eagles that the Rangers will meet on Friday are a different team from last year.
The biggest and most important change is at the quaterback spot. Last season, Cosby was led by Derrek Weeks, who finished his senior season with 2,347 yards of offense, with 1,281 yards coming from rushing.
This time around, the Eagles will be led by senior Matt Lane, who will stepping into the QB position for the first time. His sophomore season, lane played as a running back, before transitioning into a lineman his junior year.
Last week, the Rangers were not able to get their season off to a good start, dropping their first game to the North Greene Huskies, 53-20.
The Huskies posted 227 yards of rushing on the Rangers. Unaka finished the game with 172 yards of total offense, 82 of which came from Micah Hunt’s rushing.
One of the biggest hurdles that the Rangers will face when going up against the Eagles on Friday will be size, Unaka coach Steve McKinney said.
“They are very big,” he said. “. . . It is hard to deal with size in high school. . . We have made some changes on defense this week to try and help us out and strengthen us up some.”
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.