By SHANNON HUTCHINSON Sports Writer
CNHI
9-15-10 — The Wayne County Cardinals, 1-2 on the season and coming off a 47-0 home win over McCreary Central, host Russell County this Friday night, at Jewell Field. The Lakers are 1-2 on the season coming off a 47-28 loss to 5A Pulaski County last week.
The match up marks the 34th meeting between the two schools, as the rivalry dates back to 1969, when both teams started varsity football. The Lakers own a 19-14 series edge and snapped the Cards' three-game winning streak last year with a 50-34 home win.
"Russell County was in our district when I played and a school that we've played more than anybody in our history, so it's always a hard-fought game. We aren't in the same class, or district anymore, but the last four years the Russell County same much like Taylor County is always a nail-biter. They have another good team this year, so we'll have to play well," said Cards coach Shawn Thompson.
The Lakers opened the season with a 25-6 win over Campbellsville, but back to back losses to Somerset (19-63) and Pulaski County have both teams looking to get to .500 with a win on Friday night.
"Coach Sharp always does a good job over there and watching them on film, they have some very explosive players on offense, Nick Britt is a big time play maker and Martin Cross does a very nice job of running their offense as a dual threat out of the backfield," Said Thompson.
Britt, a sophomore halfback, gashed the Cards in 2009 and is featured all of the field as the Lakers base out of the spread offense.
"Cross finds him in the passing game with the screens and short stuff but, Britt is a very talented running back. He's fast, he runs hard and the thing that's so impressive is he's a very good blocker. Defensively we have to be focused and know our keys. Britt is far from the only weapon they have," said Thompson.
Wayne County's defense is coming off a shout out effort that allowed only 9 yards against McCreary Central, but figures to be tested by a Russell County offense that averages 24 points per game.
"We know it will be a tough challenge, but we want to keep working on swarming the football and hopefully force some turnovers" said Thompson.
The Cards totaled 345 yards of offense last week, without a turnover and showed signs of promise after rough outings against both Monroe and Rockcastle. The unit will face a Russell County defense that bases out of a 40-look and allows just under 39 points per outing.
"The line of scrimmage will be key as always and another big key is we have to take care of the football. We also had a pretty clean penalty game last week, which is something we want to build on," said Thompson.
Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. Friday night at Wayne County's Jewell Field.
"We had a very vocal and supportive crowd against McCreary Central, which was great. We want the students to continue to come out and support the kids, I know we want to build on that. It was a very good atmosphere for football," said Thompson.
Details on the match up in next weeks edition of The Outlook.