Hennigan Finding Faults in Cavs 4-0 Start

The Cookeville Cavaliers are 4-0 for the first time since 2017, but head coach Taylor Hennigan is far from satisfied with his team’s performance.

The Cavs have outscored opponents 152-62 through four games and are coming off of a 27-0 shut-out over district rival Lebanon. While it may not be apparent watching the Cavs roll to an undefeated start, Hennigan said he is able to see where the team is lacking.

“I see a lot to clean up,” Hennigan said. “I didn’t think we executed some things the way we will have to this week and the way we’ll have to moving forward. So, we’re just trying to improve each week and just trying to find ways to improve our football team and there’s a lot of areas that we’ve got to do that.”

The Cavs offense is averaging 38 points a game and 296 yards rushing a game, but it’s the passing games that has Hennigan’s attention. Cookeville has only thrown the ball 33 times with four touchdowns and one interception though the first four weeks. Hennigan said while his team’s offense is predicated on the run game, there are issues in the passing game that need to be fixed.

“I still think there’s room for improvement in the passing game,” Hennigan said. “There’s some short throws that we’ve missed, there’s some deep throws that maybe have been right on target, but haven’t been caught. And we’ve got to be more efficient throwing and catching the football.”

And while it is his job to be his team’s biggest critic, Hennigan said that while the execution of the game plan has not always been perfect, he is proud of the buy-in and intensity his players have played with.

“I think that we’ve played hard,” Hennigan said. “Our guys understand that we have to play hard in all three phases to have a chance to win. And for the most part, they’ve responded to that. And for us it’s a little bit more about execution and maybe finishing plays.”

This week the Cavs will host the undefeated Mt. Juliet Golden Bears in a match-up of two unbeaten 6A district opponents. Hennigan said Mt. Juliet is a team that does not make mistakes and is as well coaches as any time they will face.

“We’re trying to put the puzzle together the next few days and figure out our best plan of attack,” Hennigan said. “It’s going to be a challenge, they are very good up front and they’re well coaches, they have talent at every position.”

Kickoff at 7pm this Friday at Cookeville High.