Robbinsville defeated Avery 41-34 in a shootout in Graham County last season.
Scouting the Black Knights:First year coach Dee Walsh, who takes over for former coach Gene Boley, coaches the Black Knights of Robbinsville. Robbinsville is a member of the Smoky Mountain Conference and finished 7-6 overall, with a 3-3 mark in conference play.
Coach Walsh is no stranger to the SMC, as he makes a second tour of duty as head coach at Robbinsville, where he coached from 1986-89. He also coached at Cherokee High School for three seasons and has coached the last seven as head coach at Hayesville High School.
The Black Knights return 13 starters from a season ago, and are predominately a junior class that returns a number of experienced players at skill positions. Two running backs, Kurt Odom and Blake Anderson, combined to rush for over 2,900 yards last season and 29 touchdowns. The Knights returns starting quarterback Luke Perkins, as well as backup quarterback and RB/DB Randy Hernandez. An agile front line consisting of junior Colby White, junior Cody Anderson, and senior Benji Calloway anchor the line of scrimmage. Robbinsville runs a multiple offense, but relied heavily on misdirection in last year’s contest, and primarily runs a 40 defense.
The Low Down:
The Knights rely heavily upon its running game, but will occasionally throw the football to keep a defense honest. In last season’s opener with the Knights, Avery struggled to tackle the strong Robbinsville running backs. The same problem reared its ugly head at Cloudland in the season opener last week.
For Avery to have a shot at winning this Friday night, they must improve its tackling and become a more physical team. The Landers ran roughshod over the team for much of last week’s loss, and Robbinsville will look to repeat the feat.
Robbinsville will look to the duo of Anderson and Odom to maintain a ball-control offense and chew up large chunks of yardage on the ground. Avery gained close to 200 yards rushing last Friday night, but could not stop the Lander offense, particularly in third down situations.
By the Numbers:
0 – number of times Avery forced the Cloudland team to punt in last week’s loss.
75- yards running from Avery RB Travis Thomas last week, resulting in two touchdowns.
91- rushing yards by Kurt Odom with three TDs in last week’s Robbinsville victory.
114- rushing yards by Blake Anderson in last week’s Black Knights triumph.
189- yards in total offense from Avery senior QB Adam Pate last week.
237 – yards rushing on 51 attempts by Robbinsville in its win last week over First Assembly.
334 – yards in total offense gained by Avery last Friday night.
537 – yards surrendered by the Avery defense in last week’s loss to Cloudland.
Be sure to pick up next week’s edition of the Avery Journal-Times for a full recap of this week’s game with Robbinsville, as well as a preview of next Friday’s Bucket Battle at Watauga.
