‘Amp’ up offense at West is goal of Hawks after loss
Hardin Valley Academy will try to put a rough offensive performance against Oak Ridge in the rearview mirror, with a trip to Knoxville West against another rival-nemesis set for a 7:30 p.m. opening kickoff, Friday, Aug. 24.
With TV cameras, a new “Pilot” synthetic playing surface, a new scoreboard and a rival with a big reputation — all coming together during the opening-season game last Thursday, Aug. 16, at HVA — having too many distracting elements was pondered following a 23-7 loss to the Wildcats.
“I don’t know if we got caught up in the hype of the new field, new scoreboard or that it was a TV game or what — no excuses need to be made: we weren’t ready to play tonight,” HVA head coach Wes Jones said. “... We didn’t play very well offensively tonight. We had zero identity: we couldn’t throw it, we couldn’t run it.”
He also mentioned punt and kickoff “blunders” leading to Oak Ridge points.
However, “I don’t think that score is very indicative of our football team,” he added.
“We got a little too amped up coming out here and just did not play assignment football like we talked about all week,” Luke DeFur, senior receiver/linebacker, said. “We had a lot of busts on offense, couldn’t move the ball.
“We had plays to make, but we just didn’t make them tonight,” he added. “I don’t what the deal was.”
Kelton Gunn scored from 3 yards out for the Hawks with 20 seconds left in the game. It capped a 42-yard drive following a partially blocked punt and featured the running of Gunn, a junior, and a 15-yard pass from quarterback Grayson Vaughn to Luke Filipkowski. Josiah Lambert added the extra point.
Defensively, despite HVA giving up three big plays worth 16 points, “I thought Jaylen (Moore) and Kaleb (Tyes) were really good up front on the defensive line,” Jones said. “They played hard all night long, and they’re going to be forces on the defensive line against anybody that we play.”
“And the bottom line that made it so frustrating was it was self-inflicted,” he added. “I can’t tell you how many passes we dropped, or threw over their heads.”
“A very disappointing effort all the way around tonight.”
West next
Looking ahead to the Runnin’ Rebels at Bill Wilson Field this Friday, “We’ll bounce back, and next Friday will be a different story,” DeFur said, recalling in 2017 the Hawks’ worst game, a blowout loss at Bearden, was followed with a 37-36 upset home victory against rival Farragut.
“They’re a good football team; we’ll have our hands full, for sure,” he added about West. “But I think we can get it done.”
Predicting a low-scoring game this Friday would hardly be a stretch: the Running’ Rebels are coming off a 9-0 shutout loss at Bearden last Friday.
“The West game is a lot like this Oak Ridge game,” Jones said. “It’s been close football games the last couple of years (both Runnin’ Rebels victories).
“It’ll be a big game. We’ll have to get amped up,” he added. “They’ve got a great defense, so it’s not going to get any easier for our offense.
“We’re going to have to play really good on defense, and we’re going to have to get better on our special teams.”
