After coming off its bye week, Sequoyah will get back in action Friday night when it hosts undefeated Riverwood in a Region 7AAAAA crossover game at Skip Pope Stadium.

While some may consider having a week off to be a benefit for the team, Chiefs coach James Teter doesn’t quite see it that way, and he believes that bye week can hurt a team just as much as it can help.

“While the open week is good to get some of the kids rested and healthy, it takes you out of your rhythm,” Teter said. “For the most part, I would rather have just kept playing and not had a week off.”

Teter went on to say that having an extra week off did have some benefits, such as giving his team more time to prepare for a Riverwood defense that blitzes on almost every play.

“They’re going to be blitzing us every down, so we’ve be doing that in practice quite a bit with our scout team,” Teter said of the 3-0 Raiders. “We just want to get the kids familiar with what they are going to face — get them to understand that they don’t need to panic.”

With the exception of emphasizing practicing against the blitz, Teter said that Sequoyah (1-1) hadn’t changed much since its loss to Cherokee two weeks ago.

“I thought we played well against Cherokee,” Teter said. “We didn’t really have any glaring weaknesses. We’ve just made sure to work on the same things that we’ve been working on the entire year, and that’s fundamentals, blocking and tackling.”

The Chiefs will have to make sure to complete their tackles Friday night of they want to slow down a Riverwood offense that has averaged over 43 points per game so far this season.

To do that, Teter feels Sequoyah’s defensive line will have to slow down the Raiders’ option attack, which Teter compared to Georgia Tech’s.

“If you watch Riverwood, you’ll see that they are just like the Yellow Jackets,” Teter said. “They run the triple option, and they are very good at it.”

Teter said that to find success against the Raiders’ option, the Chiefs’ defense will have to play smart and not be fooled into leaving their positions on the field.

“The most important thing that you can do when facing the option is to remain disciplined,” Teter said. “You have to be able to read your keys correctly. Otherwise, you’ll leave gaps in the defense, and they will take advantage of it.”

Teter also saw some similar qualities between Riverwood’s option attack and Sequoyah’s Wing-T.

“It’s going to be a lot like playing against ourselves (Friday),” he said.

Despite the tall order in front of him, Teter insisted the Chiefs will operate out of the same formations they have been running all season long.

“We’re going to go out and do what we always do,” Teter said. “Hopefully, we will get the result.”