GC looks for something positive before starting region
After a much-needed week off, the Gordon Central Warriors jump back into the non-region schedule on Friday night when they travel to play at LaFayette at 7:30 p.m.
The Warriors (0-2) are off to a tough start after losses to Murray County and Southeast Whitfield, but head coach David Humphreys said his team used the week off to their advantage.
“It was a really good week for us, and we needed it,” said Humphreys. “We had some really good practices. We got the kids some rest with a few days off and had some shorter practices, but we were also able to get a lot of work in. We went back to the basics and tried to get better at the fundamentals. Overall, it was a good week.”
Gordon Central is now focused on the Ramblers (1-2), who have lost their last two following a season-opening win at Armuchee. LaFayette is coached by former Gordon Central head coach Chad Fisher, who is now in his fourth season there.
Humphreys said the Ramblers are a different team than they faced last season in a non-region contest, but they still have their hands full with them.
“They’ve changed offenses to more of a traditional wing-T and have been running the ball a bunch, which is a little different for Chad,” said Humphreys. “He’s got them playing hard and they’ve run the ball well against some good teams. Defensively, they are in a 3-4. They don’t try to do anything flashy, just play good solid defense. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
The Warriors have struggled to get things going consistently on both sides of the ball in the early season as turnovers have been a bit of an issue. Defensively, they’ve been vulnerable to the big play as both Murray County and Southeast Whitfield were able to gain some big chunks of yards at a time.
With Friday’s game being their final non-region test before heading into the Region 7-AA schedule next week at home against Pepperell, Humphreys said the goal is to have some success to get some momentum going into the region slate.
“We need something good to happen,” said Humphreys. “We want to go out there and play hard, play fast for four full quarters. We’ve been a very up and down team the first few weeks of the season. We’ve looked good for a stretch of plays and not very good at other times on offense, and defensively, we’ve not been a very good tackling team. We want to get those things corrected this week.
“Keys against LaFayette are we have to get some first downs and get a few big plays our way. Defensively, we’ve got to get off the field. If we do those things, we can have a better night than we’ve had.”
Gordon Central leads the alltime series against the Ramblers 5-3, but LaFayette has won the last two, including a 37-0 win last season and an 8-6 victory in 2014.
The Warriors should be fresh coming off their idle week as they face a LaFayette team that has struggled about as much as they have over the past three seasons, winning just six games in that span.
Gordon Central has to get more out of their running game to move the chains and control time of possession. LaFayette will also try to grind it out on the ground. This should be a very competitive game, but home field gives the Ramblers the edge.
LaFayette wins, 26-16.
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