Cloudland set for battle with Oakdale Eagles

Published 8:31 am Tuesday, November 1, 2022

STAR CORRESPONDENT

Cloudland comes into this region 1-2A contest with Oakdale as the top seed in region 1A and has overcome a rough stretch in the middle of the season to win three straight – including two conference victories to clinch the top spot over Unaka.

“Anybody that doesn’t think Oakdale is a good football team hasn’t watched film of them,” Highlanders head coach Zac Benfield said. “They are aggressive and they play with a chip on their shoulder. Region 2A is traditionally tough and this season is no different.”

Oakdale (7-3 overall, 3-3 conference) is led by senior quarterback Eli Davis and the Eagles like to air it out with junior WR Joseph Summers, senior RB Jeremy Fitzpatrick and junior WR/RB Aaron Dunlap.

The Eagles had been on a three-game win streak of their own before dropping a 20-14 contest with Greenback last week. The Eagles opened the season with four wins before losses to Coalfield and Oliver Springs who finished one and two in the conference.

Cloudland (5-5, 3-0 conference) has seen its offense hit high gear since switching to the Wildcat offense which utilizes senior Gage McKinney’s talents to a tee. In that spread, McKinney can pick the hole he wants to run through since he is standing in the backfield and gives him the option to run or throw the football.

“Gage picks things up so quickly that we can devise a new offense and in no time he can teach it to the young guys,” Benfield said. “He is the type of kid you don’t have to motivate. You don’t have to pull him aside and explain things to him. He gets it.”

The ‘Landers scored a season-high 54 points in last week’s win over conference foe North Greene. McKinney became the second consecutive Cloudland running back to eclipse 2000 yards rushing following Seth Birchfield.

McKinney was humble and quick to give credit and praise to his teammates and the guys in the trenches and he said following last week’s win he said, “The guys up front are really dedicated and they deserve a lot of credit for what we have been able to accomplish. It is a humbling experience to get to 2000 yards but it was all a team effort.”

Oakdale comes in with a scoring average of 31.8 points per game and defensively teams score an average of 21 points which would have been a lot lower if Coalfield’s 68 points and Oliver Springs 40 points had been better. The ‘Landers score at a 22.6 clip and have given up 31 points a game, but over the last three weeks it has been 48.6 offensively and 26 points on defense, so look for a close game with the team making the fewest mistakes likely coming out ahead.

Game time is 7 pm in the playoffs.