**Incase you missed it, you can check out our podcast interview with Coach Teter Here: Sequoyah Chiefs Podcast
The Skinny
Coach James Teter has led the Sequoyah Chiefs to the playoffs in 6 of the last 7 seasons. In 2018 the Chiefs had perhaps one of the best seasons at Sequoyah; advancing to the Quarterfinals for only the second time in school history. As the Chiefs prep for the 2019 season, Coach Teter talked about the team’s biggest challenge this season.
“Filling in all of the spots from graduation. We lost a lot of key players from last year’s team. Many of which played for 3 years,” he said.
He continued by saying, “Finding those replacements and building some depth have been the biggest issues this offseason.”
While the Chiefs will be looking to fill those voids, the cupboard is not completely bare in Hickory Flat. The Chiefs will return 3 starters on the offensive line (Nick Balance, Wyatt Hampton and Connor Johnston) that helped pave the way to 235 yards rushing per game in 2018. Sequoyah returns fullback Jaden Mitchell, who was third on the team in rushing last season with 414 yards and 7-TDs. Look for the junior to get more touches this season. Colin Koprowski will take over at quarterback. He will have two play making receivers in Myles McGee and Christian Hodgins. Last season McGee was second on the team in receiving with 21 receptions for 362 yards and 5-TDs.
While the Chiefs also lose a lot on defense, they do return their top tackler in linebacker Grant Gibson. Gibson tallied 120 total tackles (71 solo) last season. Christians Kirby will He will join Gibson at linebacker. Up front, Connor Johnston and Damian D’Alessandro will anchor the defensive line and McGee (56 total tackles in 2018) will line up in the secondary for the Chiefs.
We asked Coach Teter if there were any games that were circled on the schedule.
Teter said, “With the number of player that we lost from last season every game is the most important one on the schedule. We will truly work one game at a time and learn and build off of it.”
Finally, we asked Coach Teter how the Chiefs will define success in 2018.
“With us being so young experience wise success will not be measured by wins and losses but our teams ability to grow and work together throughout the season. If luck has it and we learn from the first half of the season then I think we will be able say we were successful and hopefully make a run at the playoffs,” he replied.
