Coalfield-Greenback Playoff Game Preview – 11/13/19
By Greg Addington
Coalfield plays their second round game on Friday night against a very familiar foe, traveling to Greenback to play the Cherokees in a playoff rematch. It is the 11th postseason game between the two schools and the first playoff game played against Greenback in the second round since 2013.
Last week, Coalfield defeated Hancock County by a final score of 42-6. Peyton McKinney threw for 118 yards on 5-of-9 passing and threw for three touchdowns, two of which were to Isaac Vanwitzenburg and one to Jacob Bunch. Coalfield scored on the ground with touchdown runs from Canaan Bowling and AJ Henry and freshman quarterback Cole Hines tossed a scoring strike to Colton Kees. On the defensive side of the ledger, Micah Jackson and Hayden Hicks both had nine tackles and Vanwitzenburg and Conner Johnson each picked off Indian passes.
Greenback defeated Unaka last week on Cooper Field, 51-6. Senior running back Wyatt Rutgerson ran for 126 yards and scored three times for the Cherokees. Greenback took advantage of short fields on offense and had a running clock in the second half, however the Rangers did get on the board late in the contest on a Logan Benway 3-yard scoring run.
There is not much to say about this battle that hasn’t already been mentioned. Each team knows the other well and although the Cherokees have had success of late in the series, Coalfield has also had a history in the series of reserving their best play for Greenback in the postseason. Coalfield did have the luxury of resting some regular starters against Hancock, notably Seth Lowe, Anthony Foster and Daniel Schaar played sparingly to prepare for this round two tilt.
Coalfield faces Greenback on Friday night with a trip to the quarterfinal round for the winner to face either Oliver Springs or Cloudland. Coalfield would travel to either location with a victory on Friday night, and Greenback would host Oliver Springs but travel to Cloudland if they are victorious. Kickoff at Cooper Field in Greenback is 7pm.