The R.A. Hubbard Chiefs wasted no time in making a strong statement in 2019 as they cruised to a big win over Cherokee Thursday night.
The Chiefs scored seven first half touchdowns and pulled their starters with over five minutes to go in the second quarter. It was a fast start to the season.
“It’s satisfying and there were a lot of bright spots,” said head coach Mac Hampton. “I think that if we had played some teams that are deeper on our schedule tonight, we wouldn’t have won. But it’s the first game of the season, and you’re going to have those little things you have to fix.”
Things started off bad when they fumbled in the Cherokee endzone on the second play from scrimmage, but they quickly turned it around. Montoya Kellogg opened the scoring with a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Domiryck Steward returned a punt for a score to give them an early 12-0 lead. Quarterback DJ Wiggins and running back Todd Perkins both added two scores on the ground.
The Chiefs dominated at the line of scrimmage, forcing several sacks and TFls and opening up huge holes for running backs to run through virtually untouched.
“That’s definitely a positive we can take,” he said. “Those plays are the ones we have to study to see what we did right and make sure we do it next week. We have to key on that to see what we did right and keep that going.”
Hampton was especially impressed with Wiggins in his first start.
“DJ Wiggins, my quarterback, I was very pleased with him,” Hampton said. “He’s got a bright future ahead. He’s always been a diamond in the rough, he was just young. Now he’s getting that swag. You look at all the great quarterbacks, they have their own swag and he has to develop his own swag.”
Willie Cox got Cherokee on the board with a touchdown just before the half to make it 46-7. Tyler Smith was Cherokee’s best player of the night, scoring two touchdown runs in the second half.
Hampton was pleased to get the win, but he wants to see more out of his team.
“A win is a win and you’re always glad to see that in the win column,” Hampton said. “But in my opinion, I don’t think we played very well tonight. We have a lot of things we have to clean up.”
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