Football Preview: Whitwell Tigers vs. Copper Basin Cougars
Whitwell has gone 7-2 against Copper Basin recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Whitwell Tigers will challenge the Copper Basin Cougars at 7:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Whitwell has five straight wins, Copper Basin has seven straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Whitwell's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. Everything went their way against Sale Creek as Whitwell made off with a 24-0 victory. The 24-point effort marked the Tigers' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
It was another big night for Brandon Easterly, who rushed for 186 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.2 yards per carry, and also threw for 158 yards and two touchdowns. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 111 rushing yards per game. Bennett Mcdougal was Easterly's top target, picking up 90 receiving yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 60 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Whitwell was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 297 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 157 rushing yards in seven consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for Copper Basin's offense. They had to suffer through a 66-0 loss at the hands of Chattanooga Prep. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee football rankings (they are ranked 319th, while the Sentinels are ranked 159th).
Whitwell's win was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-0. As for Copper Basin, their loss dropped their record down to 0-5.
Everything came up roses for Whitwell against Copper Basin when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 54-18 victory. In that game, Whitwell amassed a halftime lead of 34-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
