If The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were feeling good off their 42-15 takedown of the Cannon County Lions two weeks ago, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. Notre Dame and Christian Academy of Knoxville were almost perfectly matched up on Friday, but Notre Dame suffered an agonizing 50-49 defeat. Despite running the score up even higher than they did two weeks ago (42), Notre Dame still had to take the loss.
Notre Dame's lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Cooper Campbell, who threw for 347 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 10.5 yards per attempt. Justin Baker was another key contributor, picking up 192 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Notre Dame's defeat was their fourth straight on the road, which dropped their overall record down to 2-8. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 10-0 Boyd-Buchanan and 8-2 Walker Valley (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 68.9% over those games). As for Christian Academy of Knoxville, their victory bumped their record up to 4-6.
Notre Dame will head out on the road to face off against Chattanooga Christian at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Chattanooga Christian presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than Notre Dame in Tennessee (Chattanooga Christian is ranked 91st, while Notre Dame is ranked 209th). As for Christian Academy of Knoxville, they will look to defend their home field on Friday against Silverdale Academy at 7:00 p.m.
