CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Kenwood football (0-2, 0-1) hosts Northwest (1-1, 1-0) at 7 p.m. Friday in a Region 7-5A contest.
Last week in their road matchup against Montgomery Central, the Vikings jumped out to an early 10-0 lead before falling by a final score of 19-10. Northwest football coach Neil Furnish broke down what happened from the second quarter on that ultimately led to his team’s defeat.
“Montgomery Central is a physical football team,” Furnish said. “They scored on a 30-yard slant for a touchdown that put them up 10-7 at the half. Defensively wise, we were doing great and basically just traded punts for awhile before they stayed on our side of the fifty for pretty much the whole second half. Our third-string quarterback took a snap which went through his hands in the end zone that they fell on. All in all, it was just one of those things that kind of snowballed on us.”
The Knights have struggled to limit opposing offenses so far this season, allowing 38.5 points per game. After watching his defense in practice this week, Kenwood football coach Les Greer believes his team is on the brink of getting things turned around, beginning with Northwest on Friday.
“Our run fits are improving,” Greer said. “We must also improve our overall physicality as a defensive unit. That’s been better this week in practice along with our secondary communication. With so many inexperienced players we just need reps. The more reps they can get, the more confident they will be with their calls and reads.”
The Vikings suffered numerous injuries in the loss to the Indians, most notably their starting quarterback Ryan Silverstrim for the season with a broken collarbone. Backup quarterback Ethan Tackett was also hurt and will miss some time with a rib injury. Furnish understands replacing each player under center won’t be easy, but that the show must go on.
“We’ll definitely have to tailor our gameplan,” Furnish said. “You’ll see a different type of offense that I’ve had to use a couple times in my 17 years of coaching that’s geared more towards the running game. We’re sitting with a young man Zach Klenk who has never played quarterback, but is extremely smart and a dual-sport athlete. We also have Markkus Farrior who has been a four-year player here. Those are guys who we trust with the ball in their hands.”
Vikings running back and interior linebacker Kison Rhodes also exited last week’s game with a knee injury. Furnish is optimistic that Rhodes will be available for the Kenwood game, but is playing it cautious when it comes to his leading rusher this week in practice.
“You’ll see Kison Friday,” Furnish said. “He’ll be back with us. He’s going to have both knees in braces, but he’s cleared. We haven’t practiced him this week other than conditioning a little bit. He’s been more of a coach in practice to make sure we develop more depth at his positions, but he’ll be back.”
Greer isn’t letting his team worry about who is or isn’t going to be on the field for the Vikings and is approaching the matchup like any other.
“We broke the film down like any other week,” Greer said. “Since they played the second half under similar conditions, I doubt they’ll change that much. We’ll prepare for what we’ve seen. All 11 players must read their keys and do their job for us to be successful on defense. One guy can’t take a play off. Every team we play is capable of scoring if we don’t do our job. This week is no different.”
Corben Howard has been a bright spot for the Knights offensively through two games while logging four catches for 81 yards last week against Wilson Central. Greer shared makes the junior such a dynamic player at wide receiver.
“He brings great energy to practice every day,” Greer said. “He is constantly working to improve his play. He runs good routes to get open when the read brings the ball his way. I think he would even tell you, this is just the beginning of where he wants to be. I’m proud of the start he’s had and because of his work ethic, he will continue to grow as a football player and leader for our team.”
Greer has never been big on putting a ton of stock into just one game, but he does believe a region victory for his group on Friday could go a long way in helping build some steam over the second half of the season.
“You’re right, every week we work hard in practice to have a chance to earn a victory Friday night,” Greer said. “This week is no different. Being a close city rival and region game, it probably does have a little more weight to some players. As a program, we approach it like every other game though. It’s always about Kenwood. Have a great week of practice to prepare for Friday then go out and compete for four quarters. Hopefully we will continue to work hard this week in practice to prepare for Friday against Northwest.”
The Viking football program has experienced several highs and lows just two weeks into their 2020 campaign after capturing a 24-12 region win to begin the season and now having to deal with a myriad of injury issues, heading into Week 3. Despite the unforeseen circumstances, Furnish believes his players will rally around one another and continue to persevere the rest of the way out.
“We’ve lost a lot of time and we’ve lost a lot of players due to health and safety reasons,” Furnish said. “At the same time, our message is we are who we are and that’s all we need type of an approach. Just play your role and be the best that you can. We’ve sold that be grateful for this opportunity because you don’t know what tomorrow brings.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth from our young men especially from our senior group. Kamarion Walker has a tremendous mindset when it comes to how he’s approaching things and interacting with his teammates. It’s been a pleasure to work with all of these guys. We just hope we can ride the ship and play as many games as we can.”