Cloudland to face another big test on the road this Friday
Published 10:39 pm Tuesday, October 5, 2021
File Photo / Brandon Hyde It was off to the races for Seth Birchfield after a handoff deep in Highland territory. Birchfield accounted for over 300 rushing yards against West Greene and will need another big performance against Unicoi County on Friday night for the Highlanders to pull off the victory.
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BY NIC MILLER
STAR STAFF
nic.miller@elizabethton.com
ROAN MOUNTAIN – Last week, the Cloudland Highlanders were involved in one of their most highly contested games of the 2021 season, a contest in which the team from Roan Mountain came away with the win over the West Greene Buffaloes by a score of 20-7.
However, the Highlanders win percentage was not high through the first half of their home contest, as they trailed West Green 7-0 at the halftime break. But Cloudland’s resiliency was unmatched, scoring 20 unanswered points to advance to 5-1 on the year.
The time of celebration was rich, but could not last long as the Highlanders face another tough test this Friday night on the road against the Blue Devils of Unicoi County.
Cloudland head coach Zac Benfield spoke on last week’s game and the will of his team to come back, saying, “We made a few halftime adjustments dealing with the offensive line, and we also adjusted our formation into the power-I to compensate for their stunts and twists.”
And after an exhilarating win such as that one, Benfield says that it improves team momentum tremendously. “The momentum is huge because of the type of momentum it is because we have yet to play a close game up until that point.”
“We have either blown teams out or in the case of Hampton, been blown out so it was great to see how our kids responded to adversity during a game.”
Going into another tough week, Benfield says that the momentum needs to be carried strongly into this Friday night, saying, “Unicoi is a very good football team, so we need to make sure that we have that same mentality on Friday night.”
As previously mentioned, the Highlanders are on the road against the Blue Devils, and Benfield spoke on how his team performs when not at home.
“The guys are always cool, calm, and collected and in a way I believe that we play better when on the road. At home, there is that added pressure of performing well in front of the fans but on the road the guys are loose and focused, so I believe we will be ready to go on Friday night.”
The kickoff between the Blue Devils and the Highlanders is set for 7:30 pm at Gentry Stadium in Erwin.
