Warriors look to get in the win column against Unicoi
Published 8:38 am Wednesday, August 23, 2023
- Star Photo / Brandon Hyde Warrior QB Drew Blevins looks for room to run Friday night at Happy Valley during a previous game against Cloudland.
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BY RON MARVEL
STAR CORRESPONDENT
Unicoi County (0-1) vs . Happy Valley (0-1)
Both teams lost heartbreakers last week as the Warriors fell to Cloudland 14-12 and The Blue Devils rally fell short to Northview Academy 20-13. Both teams will looking to clean up mental mistakes and play cleaner games as both teams’ offenses struggled at times to find rhythm in their openers.
For the Warriors, the game last week came down to a Highlanders stop on the 1-yard line that would prevent them from tying the game up in the fourth quarter. Down 14-0 Happy Valley would rally behind backup QB Aiden Paul who would account for 51 yards while in for Blevins, Paul would hit Austin Nickles for a 26-yard pass to get the Warriors on the board. Drew Blevins would return and hit for a 22-yard touchdown pass to close the gap in the fourth quarter. The Warriors will be looking to get their offensive kinks ironed out, led by Blevins and running back Joseph Sowards. What may be key is the Warriors defensive line, it will have to be stout against a good sized athletic Blue Devils offensive line.
For the Blue Devils, the game couldn’t have started better as they returned an interception for a TD but things would go downhill as the Blue Devil’s sloppy play and turnovers would be their undoing. Mason Hensley would power in a late for a TD but the Cougars would run the final minutes off the clock to seal the game. The Blue Devils had had a great deal of success the last two season and will be looking to get back on track. The Blue Devils may turn to the athletic Chris Chavez and attempt to get him involved early. Unicoi is stout and has good size on both the O-line and D-line led by Austin Osborne and Jay Snyder.
Warriors head coach Jason Jarrett knows the Warriors must be the more physical team to win this contest “Unicoi has a ton of athletes with big powerful lineman, it will test our grit, toughness and determination, as well we have to clean up our penalties, forced and unforced errors and mental mistakes” Jarrett shared.
