CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Northeast football hosted Kenwood Friday in a Region 7-5A matchup, as the two teams kicked off their 2020 seasons.
After a back-and-forth start to the contest, the Eagles rattled off 21 unanswered points to come back and seal a 28-13 victory over the Knights.
Despite dropping the first game of the year, Kenwood football coach Les Greer was pleased with the fight his team showed throughout.
“We had a lot of mental errors tonight,” Greer said. “Just a lot of mistakes here and there. We’ll go back, put the film on and clean it up. The biggest growth a team can make is between Week 1 and Week 2 and I challenge our guys to take that step.”
The Eagles pitched a shutout against the Knights for the final three quarters of play. Northeast football coach Brandon Clark was pleased with his defense’s ability to lock in and make big stops when it needed to.
“We’ve just been preaching that the most important play is the next play,” Clark said. “I thought they did a good job of that tonight. The mark of a good program is having a team that stays even keel. We definitely had negative things go our way, but the defense just played stellar and kept us in the game the whole time.”
The Knights failed to find a rhythm offensively and were unable to string together stops on the other side of the ball in critical situations.
Untimely penalties and not being able to take advantage of great starting field position multiple times cost Kenwood mightily.
“We forced some turnovers, but we didn’t convert,” Greer said. “We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Some of the errors early on were because we were too excited and doing things too fast. We had a couple of pre-snap penalties and then a couple effort penalties which you’ll take, but I think if we clean up our technique, some of those things don’t happen.”
The play by play
It was Northeast who jumped out to an early lead, as sophomore quarterback Jaiden Puig threaded the needle to his receiver for a touchdown.
Kenwood would answer on the following drive to tie the game at 7-all. Knight wide receiver Corben Howard got behind an Eagle defender before Jaylen Washington dropped it in the bucket for a 78-yard score.
After Northeast failed to field a punt deep in its own territory, Kenwood capitalized on a Tishun Miles five-yard touchdown run to go out in front 13-7.
As the opening quarter wound down, Moody Jones ripped off a 41-yard touchdown on 4th and 3 to give Northeast a one-point lead.
The Eagle backfield featuring Jones and Juwan Harris wore down the Knight defense throughout.
Clark believes each runner is unique in their own right and that the tandem gives them immense versatility at the position.
“Harris was somebody that we wanted to see a lot of last year, but he had a nagging toe injury,” Clark said. “He’s just a big guy who pounds the ball. He has a very workmanlike attitude and he’s just a great all-around kid.
“Moody Jones is somebody that does have a different skillset than Juwan. It was kind of thunder and lightning at times. His touchdown there in the first quarter was an explosive run. I called defense for a lot of years and that’s always a headache when you have two different styles back there, so we’ll definitely take it.”
With 11 seconds remaining in the first half, Puig found his man Walter Gooch who hauled in the pass for a 28-yard touchdown.
Clark believed it was a big momentum boost for his team, heading into the break.
“That was great because I originally just wanted to run the ball and get out of here, but the offensive staff convinced me to go NASCAR and we did,” Clark said. “We were able to move down the field and get some confidence. I think that drive was one of the difference makers in the game.”
Northeast extended its lead to 28-13 on a Puig to Jaylen Bussey 28-yard touchdown with nine minutes left to play in the third quarter.
Puig finished with three scores through the air in the contest, picking up where he left off a year ago.
What’s next
“I felt pretty confident going into Week 1 because of the amount of work that we put in as a team,” Puig said. “I’m just really happy we got to have a season. Capping off Week 1 with a dub is stress relieving because we had lost to them last year 30-24. All I have to say is Northeast is back.”
According to Greer, it’s back to the drawing board before they host Wilson Central Friday, Sept. 11 in the Knight’s home opener.
“I want to see us come out and have a great week of practice,” Greer said. “Clean up all the things we talked about then come out and compete next Friday night.”