AFTON-It was a story of two halves in Afton Friday night. Fortunately for the Cosby Eagles (2-4), they won the most important, the second half, and came from behind to beat Chuckey-Doak (1-4) 22-16 at 'The Black Hole,' spoiling the Black Knights' homecoming.

"I was comfortable that we had the ability to come here to win," said Eagles' head coach Tyler Shelton. "I told the guys in my pre-game pep talk that all of us have dreams of a special moment and I challenged them to own this moment here tonight, to make a small dream come true."

The contest was a knockdown drag-out affair in a rivalry that continues to grow.

"I don't know what it is between us," said coach Shelton, "but we have developed a rivalry and it keeps getting more intense. I challenge our fans to come out to this game next season on our home field to see for themselves. We're two teams that just like to get after each other."

It appeared, however, that in the first half, it was the Black Knights that were getting after it.

The Eagles opened the game on offense, and put together a nice drive from their own 17 that included six carries by sophomore Nick Koenig and a Jordan Cates pass to Robbie Livingston. But, nine plays and two first downs later, the drive stalled and the Eagles punted the ball away.

Neither team could get anything going in the first quarter, but Chuckey-Doak found success in the second frame.

After picking off a Cates' pass, the Black Knights took over on the Cosby 31, and struck on their very first play, a 31-yard TD run by Julius Montgomery. The extra point kick was no good, but the Black Knights had drawn first blood, 6-0, with 9:36 remaining in the half.

The Black Knights took over again on their own 29 with 3:46 remaining in the half, and on their fourth play, Montgomery struck again, this time from 10 yards out, and with the extra point kick, it was 13-0 with 2:45 remaining.

Livingston gave the Eagles a chance at some points when he picked off a pass at the Cosby 31 with 1:41 remaining. The Eagles managed to move the ball quickly to the Chuckey-Doak 13 as Cates hit Livingston twice and Robert Herzog twice through the air. But with just two seconds remaining, it was decision time.

"The coaches were telling me not to do it," said coach Shelton, "but I decided to let Robbie (Whitted) try a field goal. I mean our offense wasn't getting it done, and I thought this was an opportunity to give Robbie a chance to have his moment, and he made me look good."

Whitted, with Drew Schreder holding, hit an end-over-end boot that slipped inside the right upright to get Cosby on the board, and with time expired, the Eagles trailed 13-3 at the break.

And that's when the Eagle coaches decided to do a little bonding with their players.

"We were not happy," said coach Shelton. "We were stronger offensively and defensively. I looked at the scoreboard and thought we should be up 28-0. I had a few words with them before I let them drink some water. I was firm. We just weren't executing and I wanted to see more desire. Coach Yoakum took the defensive unit off to the side and went as far as he could go. Then, we decided to make a few adjustments and it seems that our talks and adjustments did the trick.

The Black Knights had other ideas, however, and started the second half on offense. The Knights started from their own 47 and moved the ball to the Cosby 7 when Stephen Clabrien connected on a 17-yard field goal to push their lead to 13, 16-3. But that would be it for the Black Knights as the Cosby defense dug in and the offense began to click.

The Eagles got it going on their second possession of the third quarter when Cates hit Herzog for a 65-yard TD pass. The extra point kick was blocked, but the Eagles were within seven, 16-9.

The Eagle defense simply dominated the second half, holding the Black Knights to just 34 yards rushing. The Black Knights big back, Montgomery, after rushing for 94 yards in the first half, was held to just 12 over the final two quarters. The Black Knights' passing game was ineffective as quarterback Logan Collins finished the game at 2-9 for 51 yards and three interceptions, one by Livingston in the first half, and the final two coming on final-seconds desperation drive by the Black Knights.

With 7:06 remaining in the game, the Eagles hit on a big play. Koenig took the pitch from Cates, but instead of running the ball, threw a perfect spiral to Herzog on the dead run for a 68-yard touchdown. But, the Eagles failed to punch it in on the two-point conversion attempt, and trailed 16-15.

"We noticed that every time we had second or third and long, they went cover-two," said coach Shelton. "We were hiding Robert (Herzog) in the slot, but when they went to two safeties, we knew they could cover Robert, so we sent him out wide and made them pay."

After the Black Knights were three-and-out, the Eagles took over on their own 39, and following a Koenig 40-yard run, Cates connected with Herzog again through the air, this time for 21 yards and a touchdown. Whitted booted the extra point to give the Eagles a 22-16 lead with 3:22 to play.

On the ensuing kickoff, Whitted booted it short, and Koenig snuck through to recover the ball for the Eagles on the Chuckey-Doak 45.

The Eagles were content to run Koenig three straight plays trying to eat up some clock. They were forced to punt, but Herzog's perfect kick scooted to the Chuckey-Doak nine yard-line with just 1:15 remaining.

Collins hit Ramson for 31 yards on the first play to the Black Knight 40, but Collins' next pass fell incomplete. Koenig then sacked Collins for a three-yard loss, and on the next play, Cates stepped in front of Collins' pass for the interception. But, while running with the ball, Cates was stripped, and the Black Knights recovered the ball on their 41 with 49 seconds remaining, but with a first down and ten. Following another incomplete pass, Herzog sealed the victory after intercepting Collins, and falling to the turf.

"Any time you get a win in 'The Black Hole,' it's a great win," said coach Shelton. "We made the adjustments, and our guys played with a lot of heart and intensity in the second half to get us the win."

EAGLE NOTES: Junior wide receiver Robert Herzog had a game for the ages. Herzog had seven catches for 234 yards and three touchdowns. Add that to his 66 yards in punt and kick off returns, and Herzog ended with 300 total yards. He also threw a completed pass on a fake punt, and had the game ending interception. Sophomore running back Nick Koenig had a huge game as well. Koenig rushed 25 times for 114 yards and threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Herzog. Defensively, Koenig had five tackles, a quarterback sack and recovered a Cosby kickoff late in the game. And how about those Cosby fans? Chuckey-Doak had a jammed-packed homecoming crowd, but the Eagle fans came out in big numbers and made some noise. "Our fans have been with us all season," said coach Shelton, "but I've never heard them louder. They really gave us a big lift in the second half. They're the greatest." In fact, the Cosby faithful were louder that the Chuckey-Doak fans, and at times, disrupted the Chuckey-Doak offense.

REGION 1A: In other games involving teams from Region 1A, Hancock County got their first win of the season, defeating Oakdale 12-7. Hampton fell to Johnson County 13-9 while Cloudland was upended by Happy Valley 33-22. And, North Greene was blasted by West Greene 42-0.

The Region 1A standings has Hampton in front at 4-1, 2-0, followed by Unaka at 2-3, 2-0, Cosby and Cloudland, both at 2-4, 1-1, Hancock County at 1-5, 0-2 and North Greene at 0-6, 0-2.

UP NEXT: Cosby returns to Region 1A action next Friday night, October 2, when they host Cloudland at the Eagles' Nest. Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m.