First time for everything: Greenback finally defeats county rival Loudon, 26-23

By Joe Kennedy
Daily Times Correspondent

Last season, the Greenback Cherokees started with a pair of victories but managed just two more wins the rest of the way.

Fast-forward a year and those same Cherokees found themselves in that same position Friday night as they hosted Class 2A rival Loudon.

Except this time, the only thing that dropped off was one of the peskiest things left on Brent Kilpatrick's to-do list -- beat the Redskins.

The Cherokees accomplished what no other team in school history had done with a 26-23 victory over the cross-county foe in front of a packed house in Greenback.

"This is huge," Kilpatrick said after addressing his team following the upset. "We've come a long way in the last few years. I don't know what to say."

And while Kilpatrick may have come up empty when attempting to find the words to describe the victory, maybe now he knows how Loudon (2-2) felt as it searched for a way to stop Greenback's duo of Bunkie Vanskiver and Chase Vogt.

Vanskiver did it all for the 1A Cherokees (3-0), finishing the night 19-of-35 passing for 217 yards and a touchdown through the air. But the quarterback's contribution did not stop there. Vanskiver torched the Redskins defense for 114 rushing yards and scored another touchdown on the ground.

But those numbers wouldn't have been as impressive if it hadn't been for Vogt, who finished the game with 10 catches for 91 yards. Vogt even got in on the action through the air, with a 49-yard pass after a backwards hurl from Vanskiver.

The contributions from both of his stars were not lost on Kilpatrick.

"Those kids laid it on the line," the Greenback coach said. "I've been telling them all week not to leave anything on the field. And I think those two right there left everything out here. We probably had to carry Chase off the field."

For Vogt, the win was the product of the hard work a group of 17 seniors has put it since the disappointing end to their 2007 season.

"We had never beaten Loudon, and it is just feeling great," Vogt said. "We are in our senior years, and we want to go undefeated. We played well in practice all week, and we came out here and got it done."

Loudon running back D'Andre Miley provided the bulk of the offense for the Redskins, rushing for 183 yards on 24 carries and accounting for two of his team's touchdowns.

Greenback will look to continue its winning ways next week as it travels to Roane County to take on Harriman.

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9/14/08