Rangers look to replicate great performance at Cosby
Published 8:26 am Tuesday, October 13, 2020
File Photo/Dawn Lambert Unaka sophomore Ryan Peters was just one of many contributing parts in last week's win for the Unaka Rangers rushing for 120 yards and a score.
File Photo/Dawn Lambert Unaka junior Caleb Lydick had six catches for 61 yards on offense and an interception on defense to help the Rangers defeat the Hancock Indians on the road last week.
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BY AUSTIN ALEXANDER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
STONEY CREEK – It’s been a season of very high highs and incredibly low lows for the Unaka Rangers (3-3). Only one of the Rangers’ first six games was decided by any less than 3 scores in their home win to Jellico.
Either they win by a lot or they lose by a lot. But the Rangers are keen on changing this topsy-turvy season into a consistently good campaign.
Coming off a big 40-point win against Hancock County, Unaka is trying to keep their momentum rolling into this Friday’s matchup with the Cosby Eagles.
Once again on the road, the Rangers are hoping to be just as resilient this week as they were last Friday.
“After an emotional loss to Cloudland where we lost one of our most explosive players to injury, we really wanted to spend the next couple of weeks against non-region opponents working on ourselves,” Coach O’Brien Bennett said about his teams focus after a couple of tough losses.
The injured player Bennett was speaking about is star player Daniel Shearl who just a few weeks ago put in a record-breaking performance.
Two guys who really stepped up for the Rangers were Ryan Peters and Caleb Lydick. Peters had 120 rushing yards and a TD while Lydick had 6 catches for 61 yards and added an interception on defense.
The two will once again need to stay in top form If Unaka looks to continue down this winning path. Even more than that the Rangers have to keep sight of their own game more than their opponents.
“We want to focus on being a better team, developing our identity rather than reinventing ourselves from week to week,” Bennett said when explaining some teams keys to success. “We want to peak in the playoffs, not right now, and to do that we have to continue to improve daily”
As far as the specifics to find the win on Friday, well they’re a different story.
The Rangers will have to find some way to contain Cosby quarterback, Hunter Workman. Coach Bennett described Workman as a “walking cheat code” saying that, “he can look like Bo Jackson on Tecmo Bowl at times running circles around the defense.”
Though no easy task, if the Rangers can contain the opposing QB, they should be in a good position to win the game.
This Friday’s game takes place at Cosby with the kickoff set for 7:30 pm.
