The Cookeville Cavaliers are looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season as they prepare to take on rival White County in the week 4 High School Football Game of the Week.
The Cavs (2-1, 0-1) are gearing up to face an upstart Sparta (1-1) team which features a dynamic quarterback and strong front-seven.
“They’re a pretty good football team,” said CHS head coach Jimmy Maynord, “They really should be 2-0 right now. A lot of the same kids who played last year. The quarterback is a real playmaker. On defense they do a lot of different things. We are going to have to play better technique-wise than we did a week ago.”
The Warriors have enjoyed a resurgence under 2nd year head coach Mark Frasier. After a 5-5 2019 campaign, the Warriors have a blowout win over Cumberland County and a narrow loss over CAK to start the 2020 season.
Maynord said he can see the improvement in Sparta.
“Number one, they’ve got a lot more kids playing and playing with great effort,” said Maynord. “Coach Frasier was a former player of mine. They’ve really done a good job in the last two years. We know that we’re going to have to play because they’re going to be a very formidable opponent.”
The Cavs front-seven will be tested against a White County rushing attack led by sophomore quarterback Malaki Dowell.
“It’s a lot different from last week. We knew going into that game that (Riverdale’s quarterback) was not a running threat,” said Maynord. “To me, I would rather defend someone that throws it, rather than runs it, but he can do both. They’ve got some hard-nosed running backs… With that quarterback being the threat he is, he’s capable of taking it the distance on any snap. It’s definitely more of a challenge.”
The Cavs rushing attack will look to regain the form it had in the opening two weeks of the season. After averaging nearly 10 yards per carry against Upperman and Livingston, Riverdale held CHS to 5.7 yards per carry in a 6-21 loss. To get back on track, the CHS offensive line and runners will have to find holes in a stout WCHS front-seven.
“We’ve got to block them, get hats on people, run the ball hard and mix our passing game in with our run game,” said Maynord. “We’ll see how the game goes. If our running game is going well, we’ll run the football. If we have to throw it, we’ll throw it. Every kid on (Sparta’s) defense can run. That’s been impressive when you turn the tape on.”
The Cavaliers will be playing their first home game of the season at Eddie Watson Stadium on Friday night. The field will have a fresh look as it is now turf as opposed to natural grass. Maynord said his team is excited to play at home on the new surface.
“I think everybody is excited about that,” said Maynord. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s a nice surface. Obviously there’s excitement about having that nice playing surface and not having to move venues and go to Tennessee Tech when it rains a lot.”
Kickoff between the Warriors and Cavs is set for 7 p.m. Friday night. It is the High School Football Game of the Week and will be broadcast live on the UCR Facebook page and Newstalk 107.7 and 1400 the HUB. Pregame coverage will start at 6:45.