©2009 NPT PHOTO BY RUSSELL LAWS

Cosby sophomore Nick Koenig (right) with a nice tackle
Friday night against Cumberland Gap. Both teams wore
pink ribbons on the helmets and in some cases pink socks
as the Eagles joined in the fight against breast cancer.

COSBY-Everyone was all pinked out! Fans heeded the Cosby Eagles' call for Pink-Out Night as they helped support the fight against breast cancer by decking out in pink at Virgil Ball Stadium Friday night. The Eagles responded by wearing pink ribbons on their helmets, pink socks, and head coach Tyler Shelton and his assistants went out of their way to paint a giant pink ribbon in the middle of the football field.

But, when it came to playing the game, the Eagles (4-5) were humbled by the Cumberland Gap Panthers (4-5) 48-25.

"The better team did not win this game tonight," said Eagles' head coach Tyler Shelton. "It was a matter of execution. We didn't! We missed so many plays. We had dropped passes, turnovers, it was all about execution on both sides of the ball. Despite all of that, we kept on fighting and we were hanging tough. We just gave up too many big plays."

The final score was not indicative of what went on in the first three quarters. Both teams fighting tooth and nail with the score going back and forth. But when it came to the final stanza, Cosby's wheels simply came off.

"We managed to come back to make it a close ball game," said coach Shelton, "but our miscues killed us. We just kept giving the ball away."

Cumberland Gap was at a disadvantage, not because they were on the road, but because of the loss of starting quarterback Ryan Shipley, who was on crutches watching from the sideline. The senior 230-pounder has accounted for over 75% of the Panthers' offensive output this season. But his injury left the quarterbacking chores in the hands of freshman Blake Franklin. Franklin was 13-26 through the air for 335 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. He also rushed 15 times for 75 yards and a touchdown.

The big plays that eventually did the Eagles in mostly came off screen passes, one that went for 75 yards, another that went for 69 yards and still another that went for 55 yards.

The Panthers piled up 484 yards on offense compared to 226 for Cosby.

The bulk of the Eagles' yardage came on the running of sophomore tailback Nick Koenig, who finished with 24 carries, including runs of 32, 25 and 20 yards, for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

"We did a good job of running the ball tonight," said coach Shelton. "Nick did a great job for us. We were simply taking what they gave us."

Senior quarterback Jordan Cates finished with 9-26 passing for 116 yards and a touchdown, but many of his on-target passes were dropped.

Junior Robert Herzog led the Eagle receiving corp with five catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, a 15-yarder. Livingston finished with two catches for 42 yards.

The Eagles fumbled the ball nine times, but managed to recover seven of them. There were also two interceptions thrown in. The Panthers fumbled twice, both recovered by the Eagles, and threw an interception, a pick by Robbie Livingston, who returned it 23 yards.

The Eagles fourth touchdown came on special teams when Herzog pulled off a reverse and sprinted 85 yards to the end zone. On the night, Herzog had three returns for 152 yards while Livingston had two returns for 27 yards.

Defensively, the Eagles were led by Koenig, who finished with nine tackles, while senior Nick Baxter added seven put-downs.

Penalties favored Cosby as the Eagles were flagged four times for 40 yards while the Panthers were whistled 12 times for 90 yards.

One must also remember that Cumberland Gap was yet another 3A school on the Eagles' schedule.

"It is a tough schedule," said coach Shelton, "But, you need a tough schedule to get you ready for the playoffs. It helps us grow up. We've been overmatched in strength, weigh, size and numbers, but that all makes us tougher.

Which leads to the last regular season game on that schedule, a huge showdown with Region 1A foe Unaka this coming Thursday night, October 29.

"We can't chew on this loss tonight," said coach Shelton. "Hopefully it taught us a lesson. Right now, we've got to focus on Unaka. We've got to get mental for this one. If we win, we're in the playoffs. If we lose, we probably won't get in through a wild card because of our overall record. It's that simple. We're going to need all of the support we can get, so we're hoping for a huge and loud Cosby crowd on Thursday night."

Coaches and players would also like to remind Cosby fans that Thursday night will be BLACK-OUT NIGHT. They're reminding everyone to wear black as they come out to help support the Newport/Cocke County Boys & Girls Club.

Thursday night will also be Senior Night, as the five Eagle seniors, Jordan Cates, Cody Butler, Nick Baxter, Robbie Whitted and Todd Logan will be introduced and honored by the coaches and players.

Thursday night's game will also be broadcast live on WLIK, AM-1270, with Steve Souder providing the play-by-play and Jody Lowe the commentary. Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m.

REGION 1A: In other games involving Region 1A squads, Unicoi County surprised Unaka 35-30 while Hampton managed to hang on to beat Happy Valley 30-20. And Midway slipped past Hancock County 14-6. Cloudland and North Greene both had bye weeks.