Karns is almost halfway through the football season, and have been coming up roses so far in their wins. Although the public gets to see many of the numbers associated with a good season, they rarely get to hear about it from the players themselves. 

Tyson Taylor, senior and Fullback, thoroughly enjoys playing his position on the team.

“It’s definitely a harder position because it’s physically harder [because of all the running],” he said, “But I enjoy it.”

Karns has had many wins this season, which is a good thing, according to Taylor.

“I think because we had such a good, better season last year… it’s helped us transition into this season,” Taylor commented. “Being 5-2 is pretty good. We’ve played some pretty good teams too. Powell’s a good team. We barely lost to them, which is awesome. I’m excited to see them again at the playoffs…Campbell county was a region game and that was super big that we won that. I think that winning a lot of games has boosted our team morale…We can play better, we can go into games not thinking we’re going to lose.” 

Head Football Coach Brad Taylor agrees. 

“We’d like to have at least one more win under our belt, but still, we’re doing well!” said Coach Taylor. “…We [have] a lot of good football players that have done a good job, and we’re happy with where we’re at right now. We’re excited with what we’ve got to come.

Walker Lockheart, senior, wide receiver, and three safety, feels similarly.

“It’s going good,” said Lockheart. “ We’ve only lost two games so far.”

According to Taylor, a good season isn’t all wins, it’s losses too.

“I think that because we lost last week to Carter it’s been a transition point, because last year we beat Carter by a significant amount,” said Taylor. “I think that because we lost there, I think we realized that… just because we won these games last year, doesn’t mean that we’re going to win these games this year. So going into Lenoir City, which is a region game that we need to win in order to play at the playoffs, we’re a lot more focused and ready.”

So what are they doing to prepare for our next game this Friday against Carter?

“I think we’ve got to come in, starting Monday, focused and ready to go,” commented Taylor. “We can’t just be lackadaisical, kind of brush it off like it’s an easy game, because we did that last year at Lenoir City…When you get that mentality, where you’re just looking over a certain team , that’s the scariest thing…[because] you forget how to play. I think we’re not going to look over Lenoir City, and we’re going to be ready on Friday.”

“[We’re] just trying to figure out their offense and their defense and figure out where we can beat them, where their weaknesses are, and where we can put our strengths toward and beat them,” added Lockheart.

“We’re getting ready for Lenoir City, getting ready for their offense,” said Coach Taylor. “[They] run heavy offense, [which is] different from what we’ve seen these past couple weeks. We’re making our adjustments…to our defense to get ready for those guys…continue to practice and condition, and get ready.

When all is said and done, Coach Taylor believes that we can expect a good game this Friday against Lenoir City. 

Lockheart also believes that while a football game does require a sharp football team on the field, it also requires supportive fans in the stands.

“We just need everybody to come out and support, away games and home games..” said Lockheart. “We’ll always put on a show.”