Senior Night 2022… Warriors set to welcome Pigeon Forge to Warrior Hill

Published 9:56 am Tuesday, October 18, 2022

STAR CORRESPONDENT

The Happy Valley Warriors will be honoring their eight senior football players on Friday night when they welcome the Pigeon Forge Tigers to Carter County and Warrior Hill for a battle on the gridiron between two teams that need to continue to amp up their play as three weeks remain before the start of playoffs in Tennessee.

Warrior head coach Jason Jarrett knows what will be awaiting his team when the Tigers step onto the field but welcomes the challenge for his seniors and the rest of their Warrior teammates.

“With it being Senior Night it’s always a special night and we want to send those seniors off in a big way in their final home game,” Jarrett said. “What Pigeon Forge presents for us is a huge challenge defensively. They run a three-four and they are about as fundamental as any team we see on that side of the football. They play with great technique. Offensively, they run the Wing-T and do a really good job running the football. They have some really good athletes on both sides of the football.”

The Warriors have already sewed up a third-place finish in Region 1 Class 3-A and know that they will be on the road for the first round of the playoffs Jarrett believes that he is seeing some momentum being created leading up to the final couple weeks of regular-season play.

“The last three weeks we lost a 16-12 ballgame, won a 35-32 ballgame, and lost a heartbreaker up at Johnson County after we led 39-36 with 2:47 to go,” Jarrett said. “The last three games we have been knocking on the door there and gave ourselves a chance to win and be successful so we have a little bit of momentum in terms of the way we are playing but we continue to turn the football over and that is a recipe for disaster. We have to take care of the football on the offensive side of the football.”

Jarrett added that the rushing game has been going pretty well but that the key is still taking better care of the football.

“Our rushing game, I have been very pleased with it the last three weeks,” Jarrett said. “Joseph Sowards rushed for 205 yards in our last game and our quarterback is doing a nice job. We have to take care of the football and be better tacklers. We are not at all happy with the way we have been tackling and that is something that we are not accustomed to. For years and years, we have been a good tackling football team and we are just missing way too many tackles and those two things will get you beat. We have to do better in those two things.”

The Warriors have been through a tough gauntlet of games in 2022 and although the results may not be showing it, the opponents they have played have been preparing the team for what is most important and that is the playoffs.

Jarrett believes that the game against Pigeon Forge will be highly competitive but believes that the contest will only make his team better in the long run.

“It’s the type of game that makes you better for that 11th game of the season in the playoffs,” said Jarrett. ” We have played a really tough schedule and Pigeon Forge plays in a really good 3-A league there with Alcoa and Gatlinburg-Pittman and they scored 17 points against Alcoa and I don’t know too many teams that have scored 17 points against Alcoa.”

The kickoff on Warrior Hill will be at 7:30 p.m.