AFTON — An ugly game isn’t what most coaches want, but when it’s got a win attached to it, they’ll take it. That includes West Greene coach Evan Monroe. In a game with 25 penalties, Monroe’s team committed 10 of them, accumulating 110 total yards. But even with the sloppy play, they were still able to fend off the Chuckey-Doak Black Knights 27-13 on the Knights’ own turf Friday night.
The film won’t be pretty, Monroe said, and he’s gonna have a lot of critiques for his players, but he was ultimately proud that they pulled themselves up and won.
“It shows that we were a lot better than what we were capable of last week,” Monroe said, whose team improved to 2-1. “We came out and played our butts off, the offensive line blocked their tails off. I’m sure when we watch film, there’ll be a lot of things we can critique and fix. But man, overall, you go into a great atmosphere and get a win against a county rival that you’ve not beaten in a long time, it feels good.”
One thing that might have made a difference was the switch the Buffaloes made at quarterback this week. They moved Austin Franklin, who had started behind center the first two games, back to his normal playmaking position, which is any and all skill positions, and elevated freshman Austin Brown to quarterback.
“We’ve been tentative to pull the trigger on (Brown), but I’m glad I did tonight,” Monroe said. “Austin (Brown)’s a kid with a lot of moxie. He comes in, studies the playbook, and being able to get Franklin back in space, where he’s comfortable, man it really opened us up tonight and made us dangerous.”
Brown finished the night 7-of-9 for 182 yards and two touchdowns. Franklin became his favorite target, hauling in four catches for 150 yards and a score. Alex Johnson had one catch, a 30-yard touchdown and Braden McCamey caught two passes for 18 yards.
“We were a little one-dimensional these past two weeks,” Monroe added. “So being able to complete a couple passes and stretch the field vertically, it’s huge for us.”
While Brown added a new spice to the West Greene offense, it was the run game that churned out the team’s first two touchdowns, with the help of numerous Chuckey-Doak penalties.
The Knights defense committed three penalties, two of them on crucial third downs, in the Buffs’ first offensive drive. West Greene’s Skylar Shelton led the team in rushing with 88 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, with his first score coming on a 5-yard rush in the first drive. A successful PAT from Kendall Caldwell made it 7-0.
The Knights’ ensuing offensive drive was marred by two more penalties and a fumbled handoff recovered by West Greene’s Isaiah Roberts at the Chuckey-Doak 25-yard line.
Braden McCamey hauled in an 11-yard pass on the first play and Shelton took it 14 yards for his second touchdown on the next. The Buffs missed the PAT, but held a 13-0 lead with two minutes left in the first.
The Knights found some life in the second in the form of a big play from quarterback Dom Atchison. Backed inside their own 20, Atchison dropped back to pass, saw nobody open and took it himself, skirting the Knights’ sideline and taking it 82 yards for a touchdown. The PAT made it 13-7.
Chuckey-Doak seemed to rally behind that big play as on their next offensive drive, they were able to march down and score once more, this time aided by a few West Greene flags. Starting at their own 43, the Knights churned out good rushes until they found themselves 15 yards from paydirt. Gage Hill took the handoff up the middle and worked his way inside the 5, but showed excellent awareness as he was brought down on top of West Greene bodies and not green grass. He fought back up and scurried into the end zone for the score. The PAT was missed, keeping the game tied 13-13 as the teams entered the half.
The Knights’ momentum must have worn off during the break as their first drive, inside their own 15, resulted in a three-and-out. To make things worse, a high snap on the punt sent the ball flying out of the back of the end zone for a safety, putting West Greene ahead 15-13.
The rest of the third was marred by penalties on both sides, but on the first play of the fourth quarter, West Greene’s Franklin took a push pass from Brown in the backfield 69 yards for a touchdown. A missed PAT made it 21-13.
Chuckey-Doak’s defense nearly tied the game on its next drive. After stuffing a run in the backfield, Hill stripped the ball and took it the other way for what would have been the game-tying touchdown, but the refs blew the ball dead right as Hill snatched the ball away, negating the highlight.
More misfortune befell the Knights on that same drive. They had managed to force a fourth-and-14 but an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Knights gave the Buffs a fresh set of downs. The very next play, Brown connected with Johnson on a fade route for a 30-yard touchdown. A missed PAT made it 27-13 with 5:48 left to play.
The Knights had two more drives before the final whistle, but they resulted in an interception and a turnover on downs.
Chuckey-Doak coach Billy Kaylor was understandably not happy with how his team had performed. They had committed 15 penalties for 119 yards while the offense finished with 175 total yards.
“Obviously, we didn’t play very well,” Kaylor said, whose team dropped to 1-2. “We were probably the most penalized team I’ve ever seen in a game on both sides of the ball. In the first nine plays, we were penalized on seven of them. We had missed opportunities and credit to West Greene, they played their tails off and had a good scheme.”
Atchison was the Knights’ leading rusher, with 109 yards and one TD on 12 carries. He also completed two passes, both to Skylar Davis, for 31 yards.
Hayden Roper rushed nine times for 28 yards and Hill carried five times for 25 yards and a score.
The Knights travel to South Greene next week to take on the 2-0 Rebels.
West Greene hosts 1-2 Eagleton, who just came off a 13-0 loss to Oneida, on Friday.
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