When Cloudland travels the short distance to Avery County Friday night, there will be one thing on the line, and that is bragging rights.

The rivalry between the Highlanders and the Vikings is something that has grown over the years as the Highlanders have been able to win the last three meetings. Last year, Cloudland survived an all out air assault by the Vikings as they held on for a 36-29 win in Roan Mountain. This time around Cloudland head coach Mike Lunsford expects nothing but a challenge from the Viking (0-3), who are all hungry for their first win of the season.

“Somebody is going to get bragging rights for life,” Lunsford said. “The seniors on this team or the seniors on that team, somebody is going to get to talk about winning for a very long time. We all work around each other. Their kids and our kids know each other. We live about five miles apart, and somebody is going to get to talk trash for life.”

The Highlanders (1-2, 1-0 conf.) are coming into Friday night’s game with some momentum under their wheels after topping conference foe Oakdale, 44-20, last week for their first win of the season. The win over the Eagles has helped the ’Landers get back on track after back-to-back losses to Class 3A Northview Academy (2-0) and Class 2A Happy Valley (2-0), two tough teams that have good chances of making runs in their conferences. However, despite the win over the Eagles, coach Lunsford said the Highlanders have some growing to do.

“Everybody is saying that we played a lot better, but I’m not sure if we played better or not,” he said. “Happy Valley has a heck of a football team, and we knew that. Northview, I saw where they just beat Pigeon Forge 36-29 or something like that. So they have a pretty good football team too. We played very well at Northview, I believe.

“Now Oakdale was a big game,” Lunsford continued. “Last year, Cloudland was fortunate enough to beat them 30-28. And to be honest, I talked to their coach, and he said he couldn’t believe how much more physical we were this year. To me, we still have ways to go to be a physical football team. But we are getting there.”

Last week, the Eagles and Highlanders played things close in the first half, before Cloudland pulled away in the second half. To coach Lunsford, it was Cloudland running back Noah Arnett’s 66-yard touchdown run right before the half that was the turning point in the game. Lunsford can playback the play in his head like he is watching it on film.

“The play right before the half, when we stopped them on defense and got the ball back with 40 seconds left on the clock,” Lunsford said. “Noah then broke that big long one. Now, Noah Blair had a really good block during that play. It wasn’t like a pancake block. He got in the way and, sort of, gave a pretty good shove. He then reached out and got another guy with his left hand, and sprung us. It was hard because their linebacker went wide, and Noah (Blair) got out there. It was a tough job for Noah (Blair). Blair made a great block and Noah Arnett just made a really pretty play.”

Coach Lunsford said that there was a big part of that play that a lot of people overlook.

“The part, I guess that gets lost in that one play, is the fact that (quarterback) Preston (Benfield) got nailed,” Lunsford said. “Preston took the lick. He drew the defender. He pitched the ball and he made a heck of a play. And a lot of the time people don’t see that part. They just see Noah running.”

There was one big takeaway from last week’s win, and that is Arnett, who had the game of his career against Oakdale, can carry the ball when needed. The senior running back totaled a whopping 341 yards, while recording four touchdowns. At the beginning of the year, coach Lunsford said that Arnett would have to become a “stud” and carry the ball well for the ’Landers to have a successful season.

Lunsford said that Arnett is starting to get the feel for this year’s offense, and is understanding when to make his cuts and when not to.

“He has had a tough job,” Lunsford said about Arnett. “Because the system that was run here last year and the system that is run here now are a lot different. It has been really tough on the linemen to change the way that they are taught. We just do things a little differently. I’m not saying one way’s right and one way’s wrong. I’m just saying that it is different.

“It is a lot more to learn for Noah,” Lunsford continued. “We have run Noah some in the spread, and he looked really good and a lot more comfortable in it than what we are doing now. That was until last week. He told me today, ‘I wish I could have felt this comfortable with these type of plays in the spring.’ He said, ‘ I just felt so uncomfortable.”’

After Wednesday’s practice, Arnett, who has more than 400 yards rushing on the year, talked about how his confidence has grown from the beginning of the season to now.

“I barely had any experience running the ball or anything, so just running the ball in the games has really helped me this year,” he said. “I’m really starting to see the field better and everything. It was kind of like starting out as a freshman as a running back, and now I feel like I am getting to a senior level.”

Last week, Arnett was backed up by QB Preston Benfield, who had 66 yards rushing and 67 yards passing.

The Vikings will be coming off a 55-21 loss to Watauga. During last week’s contest, the Vikings offense recorded roughly 269 yards of offense, with 132 yards rushing and 137 yards passing. One of Avery’s biggest threats is junior running back Steven Sanchez (5’10, 170 pounds). Another Viking that the Highlanders will have to keep their eyes on will be senior running back Christian Hicks (6’1, 180 pounds).

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

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