Renewed hope with a manageable schedule has the Knoxville Football Squad feeling confident heading into its week one meeting with Centerville. The Panthers are coming off a four win season last year after two years of three wins combined. There will be a lot of new to the Panthers this season, as Roston McCarty will make his second career start and first as the #1 quarterback. The Big Reds will counter with a lot of returning experience from a team that also went 4-5 and made the class 2A playoffs. Panthers Coach Matt Dunkin tells KNIA/KRLS Sports this is not the most ideal opponent to start the season, but it is a good gauge of where his team has progressed in preseason.

Dunkin: “They’ve got a lot of guys coming back and they played better as the season progressed. We would like this to be later in the non-district season, but this is a good measuring stick to where we stand in areas and what we can do in others.”

There will be no shortage of skill position players for McCarty to go to and Dunkin is confident in his front line they can create holes to have a running game that will keep defenses honest. Live coverage of tonight’s game is on 95.3 KNIA with the pregame at 6:30 and kickoff at 7:30.