Warriors look to rebound on the road against Cosby
Published 12:01 am Friday, September 20, 2019
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File Photo/Brandon Hyde The Happy Valley defense will need to rise to the occasion tonight against Cosby as the Eagles will be back to full strength offensively. The Warriors are hoping to shake off last week's loss to Unicoi County.
BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
When you start a season 3-0, including a last-minute win over a conference rival, you are feeling pretty confident.
When you suffer a 35-0 loss – it can affect that confidence in a negative way and that is exactly what Happy Valley head coach Jason Jarrett is hoping to avoid as his Warriors take on Mountain East Conference rival Cosby on Friday night.
“We got whipped physically at every single position last week,” Jarrett said. “All over the field. It was the first time we didn’t look ready to play.
“They punched us in the mouth and we were shell shocked. Coming off an emotional win against Hampton we didn’t do a good enough job getting the guys prepared and that falls on me.
“We can’t afford another game like that. We are tied for first place right now and the next game is always the biggest game.”
Happy Valley (3-1, 1-0 MEC) will be looking to extend a four-game win streak against the Eagles to five. In that win streak, the Warriors have tallied 62-0, 61-0 and 64-0 victories before last season’s 44-6 win.
Cosby (1-3, 0-1 MEC) have some weapons in quarterback Hunter Workman who put up 317 yards of total offense against Unaka in a 34-28 overtime loss in Stoney Creek. Workman rushed for 119 yards and passed for 198 in that one.
Senior wideout Jeremy Wise had a big night against the Rangers with three receptions for 89 yards and a score and Coach Jarrett is hoping his team can rise to the challenge of holding them down.
“After the shellacking, we took last week we have to respond in a positive way,” Jarrett said. “You are playing for playoff seeding and a conference championship which makes it an extremely important game for us.
“If we play like we did last Friday we’ll have a hard time finding any wins.”
Another important cog in the Eagles offense is senior tailback, middle linebacker and kicker Eduardo Gonzalez who is coming back from injury as Cosby will be at full strength for this one with tight end Logan Cline also returning to the field.
“Cosby is getting healthy and getting some guys back from injury,” Jarrett said. “I spoke with coach (Kevin) Hall earlier this week and he is starting to get his full roster back that had several missing but he would have some of his injured players back and looked to be at full strength.
“They have our full attention and we have to handle ourselves. We have got to fix ourselves if we hope to win more games and that starts with good film session and we had a good practice day yesterday.
“We are banged up right now and we have to depend on some young kids to step in and play. It’s an opportunity for them and it’s why you play the game.”
Game time is 7:30 pm.
