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Star Correspondent

Since 2013, the Cloudland Highlanders and Happy Valley Warriors have clashed in a long-standing football rivalry. On Friday night, the tradition continues as the Warriors travel to Roan Mountain and Orr Field to take on the Highlanders.

“For the kids, it is a big rivalry game,” Highlanders head coach Zac Benfield said. “We will have to be disciplined in our defensive alignment. We have to be really gap-sound and put ourselves in a position to be successful. We have to be attentive to prevent big plays.”

Sophomore Grayson Cole will play a big part in the Cloudland offense, taking over for the graduated Kyle Birchfield at running back. Benfield credited Cole with having a “great work ethic. He is a hard worker, and he makes plays on both sides of the ball.”

Happy Valley started last season 0-3 and fell to conference rival Hampton by a 36-0 score. From there, the Warriors’ offense took flight, averaging 40.8 points per game over a seven-game winning streak.

The streak ended with a 17-0 loss to Oneida in the TSSAA playoffs, but head coach Jason Jarrett was proud of how his team recovered from its early struggles.

“We got healthy,” Jarrett said. “We had a ton of injuries early on, and that was compounded by playing three of the toughest teams in this region—Cloudland, Unicoi County, and Hampton. We didn’t have an identity at that time, and we decided to stop overthinking things and just play a physical brand of football.”

Since 2013, the Warriors have won six times, while the ‘Landers have claimed five victories in this evenly matched series. The ‘Landers were victorious 14-12 last season and will be looking to make it a two-game win streak.

“Our kids have been in the weight room working hard this offseason,” Benfield said. “We know we don’t have the depth other teams have, so we know we have to be conditioned to have success. It is a home game for us, and that is important as well.”

Junior quarterback Aiden Paul will lead the Warriors’ offense. He emerged last season as a vital player with incredible speed, providing an outside threat. When he gets to the edge of the defense, he is hard to track down.

“He was the starter for most of last season, and he busted out in game four,” Jarrett said. “Going into his junior year, we are going to ask more from him on offense and defense. As a linebacker, he had almost 100 tackles, and we expect a lot from him.”

Game time is 7 p.m.