After rolling to a big 36-9 opening night win over the 4A-4 Dardanelle Sand Lizards, the Charleston Tigers will go on the road in week two to play its second consecutive opponent from the same conference when it visits Pottsville tomorrow night. The Apaches are predicted to finish in the top five in the 4A-4 standings this season and will present another challenge to the 3A Tigers.
In last week’s opening game of the season, the Tigers junior quarterback Brandon Scott was 7-10 passing with two touchdowns and a two-point conversion. Charleston wide receiver Bryton Ketter had two touchdowns: one receiving and one rushing. Running back Brevyn Ketter also ran for 83 yards and one touchdown. Charleston wide receiver Brycen Kendrix also ha a receiving touchdown. And rounding out the scoring for the Tigers, wide receiver Eli Huck added a rushing touchdown for Charleston.
On defense, Tigers linebacker Hunter Little led the Charleston effort with 15 tackles. Fellow linebacker Ransom Merechka added 12 tackles and had to passes broken up. Charleston corner back Sebastian Gaona had an interception on the night for the Tigers.
This week I asked Charleston head coach Ricky May for his impressions of the Tigers in week one, and he said, “Our offensive line played really well. We did have two fumbles end drives inside the red zone. We have to clean that up. We had too many penalties.”
Looking forward to tomorrow night’s game at Pottsville, Coach May remarked, “Pottsville is a very physical team that has a couple of explosive runners. They can bang you and out run you. They are very well coached and very disciplined. We will have to play a sound game and limit turnovers to beat them.”
The win over Dardanelle was a huge victory for Charleston. With their tough non-conference schedule, the win over Dardanelle now gives the Tigers chance at 8-10 wins on the season. In fact, if the Tigers add another victory tomorrow night at Pottsville, it may come down to the “Battle of Franklin County” next week at Ozark for the opportunity to perhaps go undefeated in 2021. If Charleston runs the table in their non-conference schedule, an undefeated season is not beyond the realm of possibility. Coaches will tell you that sports writers have the luxury to talk openly about going undefeated, and everyone knows a lot can happen each week, but, this is a very talented Tigers team, and from my vantage point, the next two weeks may give Charleston the opportunity for an undefeated season.
The Tigers will need their loyal fan base to make the trip to Pottsville on Friday night to cheer Charleston to victory over a very tough Pottsville team. Look for a story on this game next week in Resident Press!
