Cocke County has enjoyed a four-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will take on The Morristown-Hamblen West Trojans at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Cocke County will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Tennessee Rankings (they are ranked 250th, while Morristown-Hamblen West is ranked 65th).
Cocke County fell victim to Jefferson County's stalwart defense on Friday and couldn't make it onto the board. They took a serious blow against the Patriots, falling 56-0. Cocke County was already down big by the end of the third quarter and they stayed that way after failing to score in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Morristown-Hamblen West came up short against Bearden on Friday and fell 24-14.
Morristown-Hamblen West's loss came about despite a quality game from Malakhi Isom, who threw for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
Cocke County's loss was their eighth straight at home, which dropped their overall record down to 1-8. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 8-1 Sevier County and 8-1 Gatlinburg-Pittman (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 63% over those games). As for Morristown-Hamblen West, they now have a losing record at 4-5.
Cocke County was dealt a bruising 48-12 loss at the hands of Morristown-Hamblen West in their previous matchup back in September of 2022. Thankfully for Cocke County, Tison Johnson (who rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
