By SHANNON HUTCHINSON Sports Writer
CNHI
10-6-10 — The Wayne County Cardinals wrap-up the home portion of the 2010
schedule this Friday night, hosting district foe Jackson County. The
Cards are 2-4 on the season and 1-1 in district action, after
claiming a 21-2 home win over Casey County.
This marks the fourth straight season the two schools have met and
Wayne County has dominated the previous three meetings by a combined
score of 156-20.
"All district games are important, so we certainly will prepare for
Jackson County with a focused week of practice. One thing I know
after playing Jackson the last three years is they are always big up-
front plus their kids play very hard-nosed. Coach Carter is in his
second season as the head coach and I'm sure he's still implementing
his system," said Cards head coach Shawn Thompson.
The Generals have been outscored 242-57 in six games this season
with their best effort being a 48-23 loss, at Pineville.
"We're looking to build on last week's effort against Casey County,
plus we want to send our seniors out the right way at home. The
easiest way to do that is put 48 minutes of aggressive and focused
football together," said Thompson.
The Wayne County defense is coming off maybe it's best performance
of the season. The unit held Casey County to just 141 yards of
offense, on 45 plays. The Rebels ground attack managed just 93 yards
on 32 attempts and scored just one offensive touchdown.
"Defensively our linebackers tackled better and I thought we swarmed
the football as a unit better. We also forced a couple of turnovers,
which is always a plus," said Thompson.
Jackson County is averaging just 9.5 points per game and could be an
opponent that allows the Cards to gain some valuable confidence on
both sides of the ball.
"We need to play better up-front and win the battle on the line of
scrimmage. Also I thought last week our intensity was really good, so
we want to play more aggressive on both sides of the ball," said
Thompson.
The Cardinal offense was forced to punt 8 times, but managed 273
yards on 60 plays, in last week's win.
"We couldn't get outside of Casey County, so that's a concern going
into this week. We had to rely on our passing game more, plus I
thought Devin Sloan had a nice night running the ball inside the
tackles," said Thompson.
Sloan used 21 carries to total 133 yards and look for those numbers
to possibly increase this week.
"We want to run the football and always try to establish that, but
we also have to get our passing game in sync. That comes with better
blocking, better reads and good routes," said Thompson.
Last week special teams play was involved in two turnovers as Wayne
County had a punt blocked and then fumbled away a punt return attempt.
"Ball security is a must. Our offense has not had a turnover in
either of our wins, but we can't lose that battle, or field-position
on special teams," said Thompson.
The same also marks the final home game for Wayne County's eight
seniors. Konagher Parris, Travis Pace, Blake Adams, Jacob Derossett,
Jesse Lowe, Jeremiah Stringer, Jerremiah Prince and Devin Sloan all
will be playing their final home game at Jewell Field.
"This year's schedule is a little different with five straight home
games, but this should be a special night for those guys, even though
we have so much of the regular season still to play. Hopefully our
big crowds will continue to and we'll send these guys home careers
out the right way," said Thompson.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday night at Wayne County High
Schools Jewell Field.