KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – The fourth week of the high school football season kicks off with a trio of games on Thursday. Central and Gibbs are the featured teams in this week’s Rivalry Thursday game. Then on Friday night is another full slate of action highlighted by the annual Blount County fights that are Alcoa and Maryville.
CENTER (1-2) AT GIBBS (2-1) – 7 PM – THURSDAY RIVALRY AT CARSON-NEWMAN
This week’s high school football schedule kicks off with an interesting battle in Jefferson City. It’s Central in Gibbs, but because the stadium in Gibbs is being rebuilt, the contest will be played at Carson-Newman University, the regular home of the Division-II CN Eagles. The Gibbs Eagles come in with a 2-1 record, their only loss to an outstanding and undefeated Webb School team. The Bobcats are 1-2, with a Fulton loss sandwiched by losses to Greeneville and Sevier County. The common denominator here is Carson-Newman. Both head coaches, Nick Craney of Central and Brad Taylor of Gibbs have ties to the school. Turner played baseball there, and Craney began his coaching career at Mossy Creek. You can watch the game on MyVLT with the pre-game show at 6:30 followed by kick-off at 7 p.m.
ALCOA (3-0) AT MARYVILLE (3-0) – 7PM
It’s the annual fight for Blount County supremacy. The Battle of Pistol Creek once again features the perennial and undefeated powers of Maryville and Alcoa. The two schools have a combined 33 state championship titles with the Tornadoes besting their neighbors with a total of 17. Both the Tornadoes and Red Rebels are off to a terrific start this season and are racking up big points. Maryville is averaging 41 points per game, while the Tornadoes are working their way up to a staggering 50 points per game. The level of competition stiffens this week as bragging rights are up for grabs in our Varsity All Access Game of the Week.
ROCKWOOD (2-1) AT KINGSTON (3-0) – 19:30
It’s a battle between Roane County neighbors on Friday night as Rockwood travels to Kingston. Coach Brian Pankey’s Yellow Jackets are unbeaten to start the season with impressive wins over Harriman and Oliver Springs and a big 17-14 road win at Chattanooga Brainerd last week. After being shut out in Week 2 by Sweetwater, the Tigers roared with a 36-6 victory over Cloudland last week. It’s 7:30 pm in what should be a good football game in Kingston.
FULTON (1-2) WEST (3-0) – 7 PM
They’re a couple of teams headed in different directions right now. Jeff McMillan’s Fulton Falcons rocketed to a season-opening win over rival Austin-East, the Falcons giving up a total of 76 points in losses to Central and Anderson County. The task doesn’t get any easier this week with a trip to 3-0 West. Lamar Brown’s Rebels have posted wins over Bearden, Farragut and a 35-0 shutout of the Red Devils at Halls last Friday. The Rebels are led by running back Brayden Latham on offense and linebacker John Carlevato on defense. Quarterback Carson Jessie has been a consistent leader for a deep and talented team that is working flat out to start the season.
BEARDEN (2-1) AT SOUTH DOYLE (2-1) – 7 p.m.
After a slow start in a season-opening loss at home to the aforementioned West Rebels, Bearden and first-year head coach Josh Jones are starting to find their groove. The Bulldogs held off a very good team from Oak Ridge in Week 2 and then last Friday, they hit the gas against Hardin Valley and defeated the Hawks 35-0. Thing is, those three games were at home and now the Dogs turn around and play three straight games on the road starting at South-Doyle this week. The Cherokees and their new head coach, Paul Shelton, began with a home loss to Oak Ridge, but have put up a combined 76 points over the past two weeks with wins over Grace Christian Academy and Scott. This is an interesting matchup from early season Region 2. Be sure to check out all the scores and highlights Friday night at 11pm on the Varsity All Access report and of course later within the WVLT news app.
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