‘Landers look to corral Buffaloes

Published 11:18 am Tuesday, September 27, 2022

STAR CORRESPONDENT

For the third consecutive week, the Cloudland Highlanders must play road warriors as they travel to Mosheim on Friday night for a nonconference clash with West Greene. The ‘Landers come off a 40-24 victory over conference foe Cosby and stand unbeaten in their conference at 2-0 (2-3 overall).

The Buffaloes (5-1 overall) are riding a four-game win streak which includes wins over South Greene and Johnson County and beat North Greene 56-7 last week.

“Scotty Verran is a good coach and always has his team prepared,” ‘Landers head coach Zac Benfield said. “They run a shotgun version of the Wing-T and their quarterback and receivers are good and they have a real good defensive end. They are very sound on defense and we’ll have to play well to win.”

Senior quarterback Jaden Gregg runs the Buffs offense and had a pair of touchdowns against North Greene while senior TE/DE Ethan Turner scored twice on offense and had a fumble return touchdown on defense against the Huskies.

Another player the ‘Landers have to prepare for is freshman WR Trevor Knight who is shifty and fast and he had multiple receptions including a 42-yard touchdown reception last week. Senior RB Hunter Gregg is also a featured player in the West Greene scheme on both sides of the ball.

For Cloudland senior Gage McKinney reached the 1,000-yard mark at the halfway mark of the season and when asked if the team is looking to get McKinney another thousand yards, Benfield said, “That’s the plan. Gage is a real good football player and the offensive line is coming around from some injuries. Silas Burleson, Jacob Street, and Cayden Cordell are playing at a high level on both sides of the ball.”

Sophomore quarterback Camden Peppers is doing a solid job running the Power-I offense, the ‘Landers favor but Benfield stressed that the team needs to put together a whole game saying, “We have yet to put together four quarters. We have games where we play well for a stretch and then start making mistakes so I am looking for us to put together a whole game. Last week against Cosby we didn’t play well in the first half, but to their credit, the kids rallied in the second half.”

Junior Elijah Holtsclaw had a solid game against Cosby but it was McKinney who stole the show with 330 rush yards and has been the bell cow offensively this season. West Greene is the third of five 2A schools the ‘Landers will take on this season and when asked if he scheduled these foes to toughen his team, he replied, “The schedule was already set when I got here, but I do think playing up does help you in the long run. As long as you stay healthy and don’t get players injured, I think it helps.”

Game time is 7:30 pm.