It took 24 hours for the 25-22 overtime loss to Gatlinburg-Pittman to sink in for the Happy Valley Warriors, but as they have done all season, they have refocused on the task at hand, and that is to beat Cumberland Gap on Friday night.

For the Panthers (2-6 overall, 1-4 conference) the task is formidable as they have to play the Warriors and Hampton in the last two weeks with the top two teams pushing one another to the finish line for the top spot.

“Clearly we’re not over it yet,” said senior RB/LB Austin Hicks when asked how long it took to get over the loss. “But it’s just a bump in the road more than anything, and we just have to move on to these next two games and try to come out the better team and win these two.”

Head coach Jason Jarrett takes a pragmatic approach to the loss and believes his team can be better for it saying, “Number one thing is we got beat by a very good football team. They are well coached and extremely athletic and our kids were humbled. They recognize that they are definitely beatable and we preach that every day.

“I think they were humbled to the degree that they have come out with better focus this week. It goes back to the last game we lost, which was in the first round of last years playoff. We talked about that and learned from it.”

That is not good news for Cumberland Gap who have struggled defensively this season giving up an average of 30 points per game while the Warriors average 8.9 points per game against them.

That defense was tested last week as the Highlanders scored 25 points on the Warriors but the Panthers don’t have nearly the same weapons as G-P. Sophomore quarterback Brady Pearman had a good game and senior running back Anthony Carranza ran well as the Panthers defeated Cosby 47-12 last week and the duo will have to try and duplicate that effort on Friday night.

“We have not reached any of our goals, and we will have to play extremely well over these next two weeks,” Jarrett said. “Starting with Cumberland Gap and then again the following week to accomplish our ultimate goal of winning the conference.”

When asked about the TSSAA tie-breaking system Jarrett said, “The way it has been explained to me and our AD has looked at it. If we take care of our business, which is to win the next two games, we should be conference champions. But, we will continue to do what we have all year, and we’ll play whoever they (TSSAA) say we play and we’ll prepare for that.”

On Friday night the Panthers will have to contend with an HV rushing attack that saw senior Dustun Sams run for 122 of the Warriors 214 ground yards last week and continues to feature a three-back attack that includes Hicks (489 yds. 9 TD’s) and Dylan Street (487 yds. 5 TD’s).

Senior quarterback Sage Haun had a rough time against G-P with a nine-for-20 passing night, but he did throw for 103 yards and his contributions can’t be overlooked by the Panthers.

Game time is 7:30 p.m.