Another big night for Rice, another Blue Devil win

ERWIN — Unicoi County hosted Chuckey-Doak for homecoming, and served it a heaping helping of Rice. A week after he ran for four touchdowns in the Blue Devils' first win against Gatlinburg-Pittman since 1985, senior Blaze Rice rushed for five TDs in a 48-21 win against Chuckey-Doak on Friday night at Gentry Stadium. The Blue Devils (3-1) improved to 2-0 in Region 1-3A, having cleared what would appear to be the league's two tallest hurdles. It was the region opener for Chuckey-Doak, which fell to 3-1 overall. Rice ran for four touchdowns in the first half. He scored from four yards out to open the scoring with 8:46 left in the first quarter, finding the end zone on the first play after his 27-yard run on a third-and-one. Rice scored on a 12-yard run with 1:06 left in the first quarter. Benny Acevedo's PAT kick gave the Blue Devils a 13-7 lead. "I knew I couldn't lose on homecoming night," Rice said. "We're getting better every week. That O-line helped out a lot." The big play on Unicoi County's second scoring drive was a 38-yard pass from Gunner Peterson to Aidyn Evely. It gave the Devils a first down at the Chuckey-Doak 22. Rice got loose for a 28-yard touchdown with 11:39 left in the second quarter. Acevedo's kick extended Unicoi's lead to 20-7. Alex Laningham caught a 6-yard TD pass from Peterson with 5:11 remaining in the first half. The PAT gave the Blue Devils a 27-14 lead. Blue Devils head coach Drew Rice was somewhat concerned about a letdown from his team after the historic upset win at Gatlinburg. Homecoming often worries football coaches, too. But Coach Rice let his players know all week that any decrease in intensity wouldn't be well received. What was his message to the Blue Devils this week? "Focus, no distractions, on to the next one," Blaze Rice said. And Coach Rice had no complaints Friday night. "I thought the offense looked really good tonight," he said. "I thought we were probably as balanced as we've been. I don't know what the stats were, but I felt like we were kind of hitting either one there. I was proud of our guys for that." The Blue Devils rushed for 128 yards on 22 carries. Rice ran 16 times for 113 yards. Gunner Peterson was 11 of 15 passing for 178 yards and two TDs. Backup Bradyn Hendrix was 3 of 6 for 47 yards. A continuous clock ran for much of the second half. Nehemiah Campbell's 42-yard interception return to the Chuckey-Doak 4 set up Rice's fourth TD of the half. Rice scored from four yards out with 27 seconds left in the half. The third quarter's scoring began with Rice running for an 11-yard TD. Acevedo's kick made it 41-14 with 8:33 left in the third quarter. Peterson passed for two TDs, both of which went to Laningham. "I challenged 'em at halftime, and we came out of the gates good there in the second half," Coach Rice said. "And we got some young guys in the third quarter." Evely had five catches for 77 yards. Laningham finished with three catches for 60 yards. Chuckey-Doak got TD runs from Brody Myers, Marcus Britt and Zaiden Schacke. Three C-D turnovers were all backbreakers. "Credit to them; they did a great job," Chuckey-Doak coach Billy Kaylor said. "I felt like we made a lot of mistakes. We did not play very well on either side of the football. And when you play good football teams, it bites you." Unicoi County will host Happy Valley on Friday. Chuckey-Doak will host South Greene. Unicoi County 48, Chuckey-Doak 21 C-D 7 7 0 7 — 21 UC 13 21 14 0 — 48 Scoring summary First quarter UC — Blaze Rice 4 run (kick failed), 6-0, 8:46 CD — Brody Myers 2 run (Braylon Fox kick), 7-6, 4:07 UC — Blaze Rice 12 run (Benny Acevedo kick), 13-7, 1:06 Second quarter UC — Blaze Rice 28 run (Benny Acevedo kick), 20-7, 11:39 CD — Marcus Britt 3 run (Braylon Fox kick), 14-20, 8:40 UC — Alex Laningham 6 pass from Gunner Peterson (Benny Acevedo kick), 27-14, 5:11 UC — Blaze Rice 4 run (Benny Acevedo kick), 34-14, :27.4 Third quarter UC — Blaze Rice 11 run (Benny Acevedo kick), 41-14, 8:33 UC — Alex Laningham 16 pass from Gunner Peterson (Benny Acevedo kick), 48-14, 5:24 Fourth quarter CD — Zaiden Schacke 5 run (Braylon Fox kick), 21-48, 4:25