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The second of four consecutive away games finds the Cannon County Lions football team traveling Highway 28 this Friday, Aug. 31. At the end of the trip will be a familiar face and their first region contest of the season.
When head coach Matt Daniel looks across the sidelines he will see former Cannon County head coach Chad Barger coaching Sequatchie County. Daniel was an assistant of Barger's during his time in Woodbury.
Barger is in his second stint at Sequatchie, this time as the offensive coordinator. His team welcomes the Lions in a region opener in Dunlap.
The Sequatchie County Indians have enjoyed success since joining the Region 4-2A lineup. Two years removed from a perfect 6-0 region record that saw the team go 13-1 with a loss in the playoffs to eventual champ Alcoa, the Indians responded with a 6-5 record last season.
Head coach Adam Caine, who led the rebuilding project, left during the offseason to become the head coach of Upperman. He's been replaced by Mark Wattenbarger, who has enjoyed success at Stone Memorial and Cumberland County.
The Indians are 1-1 so far in non region contests against two rivals. South Pittsburgh handed Sequatchie a 19-0 loss in the opening game that was dampened throughout the evening by rain. Friday the Indians evened their record with a nailbiting win over Marion County 21-14.
Cannon's defense responded well to Jackson County and they will have to be on point Friday as Sequatchie features a big running back in Brett Hicks.
In the game against Marion County, Sequatchie's opening drive went 10 plays and 75 yards which is something that Cannon has to prohibit from happening.
"We want to win the coin toss and get the football to start the game," assistant coach Ken Lockhart said before the Jackson County game. "It's important for us to get a chance to score during that first possession in order to set the tone."
The Lions have started out of the gate by grabbing two dominating wins. Even though they are unaccustomed to this type of success, the team has grasped the concept of a brand new culture within the program. They are focused and taking each game a step at a time. The Lions all realize that even though they are undefeated, it's still early in the season and there's plenty of football to go. After the game was over Friday night, the Lions celebrated the win but on Saturday it was back to business getting prepared for Sequatchie.
Both teams are rebuilding their programs. The Indians win on Friday helped establish some confidence after their loss to South Pittsburgh in Week 1.
One big key will be how the Cannon County defense responds against another 3A football team and a football program that expects to finish near the top of the 4-3A standings.
