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The biggest game of the season for Claiborne High, if not the history of the program, will happen October 2 as the Longhorns of Johnson County comes to town.

Let’s spend a moment and break the two teams down. The Bulldogs have started the season with a five game winning streak which is the longest one in program history even going back to the Blue Devil’s era.

Johnson County is 2-3 losing to Hampton and future CHS opponent Chuckey-Doak. The loss to CD was by six points and they easily could have won that meeting.

A common opponent is West Greene. CHS defeated the Buffs on the road 28-7 and the Longhorns defeated West Greene at home, 34-13.

The Bulldogs are averaging just over 40 points per game while giving up a mere 26 in total; 5.2 points per game. Much is said about the Bulldogs offense but again, the defense has only gave up 26 points.

Johnson County is averaging 20 points per contest while giving up an average of 21.8 per contest. That seems to be a huge advantage to Claiborne except for the unknown of the Longhorns playing up against Hampton.

Defensively, the Bulldogs on paper have the edge as far as points given up but one unknown is the Longhorns opponents. Hampton shared a common game with Johnson County and it was Unicoi. Hampton defeated the Devils 32-7 but the Bulldogs also defeated Unicoi, 48-7.

Johnson County seems to be a run first team but on occasion is known to throw the ball with some success. Claiborne is a stop the run first defensive team.

The Bulldogs are ranked at the top of the 3A Region, 1 District according Max Preps. The Longhorns are third and Chuckey-Doak sits in between both teams at second. They also have CHS ranked 20 in the Class 3A state football rankings. Chuckey-Doak is 27 and the Longhorns come in at 36.

As long as CHS football remains healthy and free of COVID-19 surprises and comes with an average game on offense they will have a great chance of winning their sixth consecutive game.

The game will kick off this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Claiborne High School.

 

By ALLEN EARL