The past two years, the Dobyns-Bennett Indians football team has been sniffing its first win over the Greeneville Greene Devils since 2001.
In 2022, Greeneville pulled out a 21-20 win at Dobyns-Bennett. And last season, the Greene Devils and Indians played to a storm-shortened no contest in Kingsport.
With that game tied 14-14 and 2:39 to play in the third quarter, play was halted due to lightning. A little over an hour later, after continuous lightning and rain, officials made the decision to not resume play and the game was not made up.
So when Dobyns-Bennett comes to Burley Stadium on Friday night, Greeneville’s coaches and players know the Class 6A Indians will step off the bus determined as ever to snap the long losing skid against the 4A Devils.
The “Friday Night Rivals” game will be televised on WCYB. Pregame starts at 7 p.m. with kickoff slated for 7:30.
“Dobyns-Bennett will be another big-time challenge,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen was saying following the Devils’ 54-7 win over Tennessee High last week at Burley. “We have unfinished business with them from last year after that game got canceled. They thought they had our number last season and they’re going to come out ready to play this year. It will be a big-time game.”
In the win over Tennessee High, Greeneville junior quarterback Caden Baugh took a firm grip of the Greene Devils’ offense.
Making his first start as QB1 for the Greene Devils, Baugh completed 7 of 10 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown and ran for 147 yards and three scores on nine carries.
All that production allowed for a relatively light night of work for Greeneville’s workhorse senior running back Carson Quillen, who carried just six times for 35 yards and two TDs and caught two passes for 36 yards and another score.
While Baugh and Quillen are a tough 1-2 punch out of the backfield, Greeneville will also utilize speedy junior receiver Zaydyn Anderson. An all-state sprinter in track, Anderson caught four passes for 57 yards in the win over Tennessee High.
“We’re looking forward to Dobyns-Bennett,” Baugh said following the win over Tennessee High. “Looking forward to a great week of practice. Just keep things moving, play like we’re supposed to play and we’ll come out victorious.”
Defensively for Greeneville against Tennessee High, CJ Reyes had a team-high eight tackles, an assist and returned a fumble for a touchdown. Drew Armbrister had seven stops and five assists, while Brandon Iezzi had six stops and two assists.
Dobyns-Bennett is coming off a 27-20 home win over 6A Farragut.
In that game, Dobyns-Bennett senior quarterback Austin Sykes completed 16 of 24 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown while running for 39 yards and another score.
Sykes’ favorite target was senior tight end Peyton Franklin, who caught six passes for 95 yards and a TD.
Castlewood (Va.) At North Greene
The North Greene Huskies, who lost their season opener 32-16 at home to West Greene last week, will host Castlewood out of Virginia for homecoming at 7 p.m. Thursday.
In the loss to West Greene, the Huskies led 16-0 in the first quarter after Brandon Weems returned the opening kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown and quarterback Thomas Darnell found Jake Duffy in the back of the end zone for a 14-yards TD pass.
From there, though, North Greene surrendered 32 unanswered points.
Castlewood is coming off a 21-6 preseason win over Twin Valley. In that game, senior quarterback Brayden Houchins threw two TD passes and ran for another, while senior running back Seth Sifford ran for 108 yards on 12 carries.
Cloudland At West Greene
West Greene, which rallied from 16-0 down in the first quarter for a 32-16 season-opening win last week at North Greene, will host Cloudland at 7 p.m. Thursday.
In that game, West Greene senior quarterback Austin Franklin ran for 190 yards and two TDs on 18 carries, and he completed two of five passes for 11 yards with an interception.
Senior Skylar Shelton had 75 yards on 20 carries and Dillon Teston had 50 yards and a TD on eight carries.
Cloudland graduated 11 of 23 players off its 2023 team including Kyle Birchfield, who had more than 1,500 rushing yards last year.
The Highlanders are coming off a 19-0 loss to Happy Valley.
In that game, Happy Valley scored all 19 points in the first quarter, including a 78-yard return for a TD by Lane Parker on the opening kickoff.
Cloudland sophomore Grayson Cole ran for 56 yards on 11 carries, and Landon Barnette ran for 47 yards on 10 carries.
Chuckey-Doak At Grainger
The Chuckey-Doak Black Knights, coming off a wild 71-46 win in their season opener at Unaka last week, will travel to Grainger at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
In the win at Unaka, Chuckey-Doak senior running back Hayden Roper scored six touchdowns, including long runs of 56, 38, 63, 58 and 49 yards.
Grainger is coming off a 21-7 season-opening win at Claiborne.
In that game, Grainger senior quarterback Ashton Taylor passed for 119 yards and a TD with an interception, and he ran for 99 yards and two TDs.
Receiver Brizen Solomon caught three passes for 45 yards.
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