Football Game Preview: Chuckey-Doak Black Knights vs. Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders

Chuckey-Doak is 0-4 against Gatlinburg-Pittman since November of 2021 but things could change on Friday. The Black Knights will face off against the Highlanders at 7:00 p.m.

On Friday, Chuckey-Doak came up short against Pigeon Forge and fell 25-18.

Meanwhile, Gatlinburg-Pittman strolled into their game on Friday with a perfect record and they left with the same. They took their matchup with ease, bagging a 41-0 victory over Johnson County. Given the Highlanders' advantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee football rankings (they are ranked 128th, while the Longhorns are ranked 308th) , the win wasn't entirely unexpected.

Chuckey-Doak better focus on containing Tyson Sutton and Brayden Maples as the pair were huge in Gatlinburg-Pittman's win. Sutton threw for 161 yards and three TDs while completing 78.6% of his passes, while Maples rushed for 51 yards and one score. The dominant performance also gave Sutton a new career-high in passer rating (155.1). Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Jackson Savarese, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.

Gatlinburg-Pittman's run defense was locked in: Johnson County could only muster 1.9 yards per carry. The team can thank Craig Huskey for the heroic effort on defense: he. Gatlinburg-Pittman's ground attack was stronger, having averaged 4.6.

Special teams played a big role in the game for Gatlinburg-Pittman, adding 17 points to the final score. The biggest highlight from special teams (and perhaps the team as a whole) came courtesy of Elijah Spence, who ran a punt back for a touchdown. Another bright spot was a kickoff return touchdown from Savarese.

Gatlinburg-Pittman's record now sits at 9-0. As for Chuckey-Doak, they now have a losing record of 4-5.

Chuckey-Doak took a serious blow against Gatlinburg-Pittman when the teams last played back in November of 2024, falling 55-3. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Maples, who rushed for 110 yards and three touchdowns on only five carries. Now that the Black Knights know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.