Coalfield and Sunbright Face Off in Historic Rivalry

By Greg Addington

Coalfield steps back into county play this week with a trip to northern Morgan County to play Sunbright.  The Coalfield-Sunbright series is the longest continuous rivalry in the school’s history.  Sunbright’s first high school game in their history was played against Coalfield in 1942 and the Tigers came away with a 6-2 victory back in the six-man football era.  This year’s game has been moved to Saturday night, with kickoff at Sunbright’s Tiger Field scheduled for 7pm.

The Tigers are completing a two-week halt in football activities due to COVID-19, missing games against Pickett County and Greenback.  The Tigers tasted victory in week one with a 41-6 win at Red Boiling Springs and are officially 1-0 on the season (COVID games do not count as losses, but as no contest games for the team unable to play).  Offensively, The Tigers operate out of the spread with Houston Bryant, John Wayne Freels and Colton Nitzschke the primary weapons for Coach Brian Hamby.  All three are athletic, have good speed and can score at any time.  On the defensive side, the Tigers will throw multiple looks at the CHS offense with both three and four down lineman fronts.

Coalfield defeated Harriman last week on Rochelle Field 34-20.  Seth Lowe scored four touchdowns on the night and picked off a TahDarius Boyd pass for good measure.  The Yellow Jackets were able to limit the explosive Harriman offense with a methodic ball control offense with Lowe and company running 51 times for 256 yards in rushing offense and holding onto the ball for over 31 minutes of game time.  Defensively, Landon Lowe and Isaac McKinney led the way with six total tackles apiece and along with Lowe’s oskie, Levi Mullins and Dawson Nitzschke also picked off Harriman passes last week.

Coalfield will kick off their first Saturday game since 2001 at Sunbright this weekend, kickoff is set at 7pm and tickets will be sold at the gate according to the school.