It's Homecoming on Rebel Hill, and four of the five local schools will be in action on their home turf Friday night as the prep football season hits the mid way point.

South Greene will play host to David Crockett for Homecoming, with festivities to begin at 7 p.m. prior to the game. Other home tilts Friday find the Greeneville Greene Devils at Burley Stadium against the Titans from Mercer County, Ky., the West Greene Buffs at home to the Hampton Bulldogs, and the North Greene Huskies at home to the Cloudland Highlanders.

Chuckey-Doak has the only road trip Friday as they head to Cosby to take on the state-ranked Class 1A Eagles.

The Greeneville vs. Mercer County game will start at 8 p.m. Friday. The game time was changed to accommodate the visitors from Kentucky. All other games are set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

Crockett at

South Greene

It's Homecoming on Rebel Hill, and that always makes for a tough week to keep focused.

South Greene coach Shawn Jones said the Rebels have done a good job this week in keeping their eyes on beating David Crockett.

"Homecoming is always tough because of so much stuff going on," Jones said. "The way we've been playing this year, the boys are excited about what we can do. They have been really concentrating and had a good week of practice."

South Greene and Crockett have had a good series throughout the years. There have been some blowouts and some close games. The Rebels (3-1) have won three straight against the Pioneers, including last year's 3-0 overtime victory in Jonesborough.

Jones said he knows Crockett will be coming in this year looking to not only make amends, but turn its season around.

"They are the best 0-4 team in East Tennessee," Jones said. "They played with Morristown East and Sullivan East, and they were in the game with West until late last week. We have our hands full, and we know it. They are going to pull out all stops to beat us. They are looking for their first win, so they are going to do whatever they can to beat us."

The big challenge will be to South Greene's defense. Crockett uses a ground-pounding offensive attack, and Jones knows the game will hinge on stopping it.

"They run some single wing T and double wing T," Jones said. "They have moved some people around. They've got some good skill people. We stopped them last year, and we feel like we can stop them this year. We'll just see what happens."

The Rebels feel like if they can't slow down the Pioneers' offense, at least they can compete with them in a scoring match, and that's what it may come down to.

"We feel like our offense is clicking right now," Jones said. "It may just be who can score last."

Mercer County

at Greeneville

Greeneville's football team will take on a very talented group of Titans from Mercer County Friday night, and the Devils would like to avenge a 14-9 loss last year when they traveled to Kentucky for the first game of the two-game series.

"We feel like we owe them one, but we also know we've got a real challenge ahead of us because they are a fine football team," Coach Steve McCurry said.

Mercer County will line up in a basic wishbone formation, a type of offense that was once much more popular than it is today.

"Their offensive line just does a tremendous job with that offense," McCurry said. "They put in two tight ends and just play old-fashioned, smash-mouth football. They run it right at you, and they have some talented backs."

Jordan Yeast is the main cog in the Titans offense. He rushed for 188 yds. last week in a 35-21 win over Southwestern. He had 128 yds. on the ground the previous week in a 47-0 shutout of Lincoln County, and the week prior to that he had 119 yds. in a 38-7 victory over Pulaski County. Mercer County is 3-1, peeling off three big wins after a season opening 25-0 loss to Madison Central.

"That No. 24 (Yeast) is the real deal at halfback," McCurry said. "Plus they have some other backs who very good runners."

McCurry said his Greene Devils have had a good week of practice. This will be the final non-regional game of the year as the rest of the season consists of league affairs. GHS is 2-2 overall but 2-0 in regional play with wins over Boone and Cocke County.

"I think our kids are focused and ready to play," McCurry said. "They know Mercer is a quality football team."

Hampton

at West Greene

West Greene High School has played the Hampton Bulldogs every year since the Buffs' program began in the 1970s, and it has been a long, dry spell since a Buff victory. Coach Joe Case hopes his Buffs can snap that skid Friday night.

"We know that we have to play well to beat them," Case said. "They are a typical Hampton team. They've not changed much over the years under Coach (J.C.) Campbell. Their skill people are very good, and they look strong on the front line, as usual."

Hampton (3-2, 2-0) has a 13-game winning streak working against West Greene. The last Buff win came way back in 1994, a 10-0 victory. Hampton, since moving down to the Class 1A ranks a few years ago, has been a traditional power, making it to the state semifinals last year.

"They've lost twice this year, but both losses were to good teams," Case said. "Oneida has a real good team and beat them, and they barely lost to Johnson County, a 4A team. So we know we've got our work cut out for us."

West Greene is 3-1 overall and 1-1 in Region 1-2A. Case said his team has had a good week of practice in preparation for Friday's game.

"We've not changed things much," he said. "We are just trying to get better at what we like to do. We've had the usual bumps and bruises, but everybody should be ready to play Friday night."

Cloudland at

North Greene

North Greene is still looking for its first win of the season, and it won't be an easy task when long-time foe Cloudland comes calling.

North Greene assistant coach James Rosenbalm said a win over the Highlanders would go a long way at North Greene.

"It would be a very unifying factor," Rosenbalm said. "We're having a tough season, but we haven't had anybody quit. It would give some credence to all the hard work these boys have put in."

The Highlanders make the trip to The Tundra with a 3-2 record. Cloudland isn't the Cloudland of old that regularly notched blowout victories on a weekly basis, but they are still a formidable opponent.

"We've heard they've been struggling a little bit," Rosenbalm said. "We've seen some film on them and have hopefully found a few chinks in their armor."

The key will be for the Huskies to slow down Cloudland's offense just enough to get their own offense into the end zone one more time.

"If our defense can step up and stop somebody, I think we just might have a chance," Rosenbalm said.

Chuckey-Doak

at Cosby

Chuckey-Doak hits the road to face state-ranked Cosby on Friday.

The Eagles are having one of their best seasons ever, getting off to a 5-0 start which has them ranked No. 7 in this week's state Class 1A poll.

The Black Knights came out of the gate strong with a season-opening victory, but have been snake bit ever since, slipping to 1-4.

Chuckey-Doak coach Ben Murphy said he didn't predict either team would be in the position they are in at this point in the year.

"I thought we would be a much better team than our record indicates," Murphy said. "We have had some mental breakdowns, sometimes some effort breakdowns. We are not where we need to be, and Cosby has had a great year so far."

The Black Knights would like nothing better than to derail Cosby's season on Friday.

Murphy knows what Chuckey-Doak must do to have success against the Eagles. It's just a matter of execution.

"We have to stop the run and defend the deep ball. That's what you have to do defensively against them," he said. "Their defense, they get after the ball. They do some things we can take advantage of. It's going to come down to whether our front five wants to block their front five."

The Black Knights plan to change some things around offensively this week. Points production and holding onto the football haven't been where the team needs them to be, so in an effort to improve both, Chuckey-Doak is going to keep it basic against Cosby.

Simple is better.

"Right now, offensively, we are struggling to find an identity," Murphy said. "We need to pare the offensive playbook down and get good at something. That's what we are striving for this week."