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Smoky Mountain will play Friday at North Henderson
Smoky Mountain’s football team will make its second straight trip to Henderson County when the Mustangs (1-7, 0-2) go to North Henderson on Friday for a Western Athletic Conference game.
SM Coach Dale Galloway said the Knights have a young team. They use a spread offense and a 3-5 defense.
“I don’t know that their overall team speed is anywhere near East Henderson, but they are faster than us,” Galloway said.
He said North not being as fast as the Eagles should put SM “in a more competitive environment” than was the case in last week’s 60-43 loss to East Henderson.
Quarterback Nick Heim directs the offense for Coach Doug Justice, who is in his first season. Galloway said that offense is balanced between the run and pass.
He said Dequan Hobdy provides speed with Major Duckett a solid defensive lineman.
“We’ve got to keep moving the ball, don’t turn it over and find a way to get a stop or two,” Galloway said. “The sun is quickly setting if we’re going to get something done this season. We’re still making some noise.”
The SM offense has averaged 37 points the past two weeks but has given up an average of 49.6 points in the last five games.
The Knights are 2-6 overall and 0-2 in the WAC. The teams have had two common opponents.
East Henderson outlasted the Mustangs 60-43 Friday, one week after its 45-28 win over North.
SM opened the year with an 18-15 loss to Hendersonville, and the Bearcats topped the Knights 41-12.
North has wins over Madison (27-20) and Chase (17-3). Other losses have been to Highland Tech (13-7), Erwin (21-0), Rosman (24-22) and Pisgah (35-0).
The Mustangs hold a 2-1 edge in the series after last season’s 45-28 victory.
Galloway saw some similarities between Friday’s loss to East and a 41-31 setback to Brevard the previous week.
“It had some similar features, and the result was the same,” he said. “Some big things happened on the offensive side of the ball for both teams at East. They had two (kick) returns and one interception return, and we lost by three scores. In all other aspects of the game, we played pretty even.”
He said the Eagles’ team speed was hard to deal with.
“We did a lot of chasing,” the coach said. “We would get someone in a one-on-one situation, and their one was faster than our one. They’ve got the kind of weapons where you can’t sit back and focus on one guy.”
Galloway noted Josh Ammons had two touchdown receptions after the Mustangs had not passed for a TD all season.
The coach was also pleased with the execution on a fake punt that went for a first down.
He pointed out that the team ran 79 offensive plays.
“We’re still doing some things well, but the outcomes have been the same,” he said.
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