Strong set to open season at Hamburg
Strong will usher in a new chapter of its football history Friday, as the Bulldogs will make their debut with Sirl Wright as the head coach.
The Bulldogs will hit the road to take on Hamburg in battle between 2A and 4A rivals.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
While the Bulldogs (0-0) will be playing for the first time, the Lions (1-0) won a 10-7 defensive slugfest at Ashdown last week on Jesus Aguilar’s 23-yard field goal in the final minutes of regulation.
“They’re two classes higher than us, and they’re picked in the top half of their conference,” Wright said of the Lions. “They’ve got a balanced attack. They pass and run the ball well. Defensively, they don’t do too much elaborate, they just try to let their guys be athletes.”
A major area of concern for the Bulldogs is the amount of depth the Lions have, especially with temperatures expected to be close to the mid-90s Friday.
“That’s going to be a definite challenge,” Wright said. “I’ve been stressing all week to the kids about how we’ve got to stick to our game plan, play our game and not try to get outside of ourselves. We’ll
try to use the clock a little bit and control the pace. They’ve got more depth for injury and fatigue than we do. Our kids probably won’t have a break where they can.”
The Bulldogs also didn’t get a chance to scrimmage due to rain, and Wright said his team has continued to practice, but he added that he and the team are ready to see someone else.
“We’ve been practicing,” Wright said. “We were looking for some teams, but a lot of them were on Week 0 contracts or they had planned on scrimmaging or being at some type of jamboree. The kids are tired of hitting each other. They’re ready to show what they can do, and I’m eager to see what the kids can do.”
Wright had mixed feelings on not being able to play a scrimmage.
“It’s a blessing and it’s a curse,” Wright said. “The blessing is that typically at the beginning of the season, you’re as healthy as you possibly can be, and once you start that, you start getting nicks and bumps and bruises.
“You don’t feel as good as you were at the start of camp. That’s one good thing. Second, a lot of these kids are going to have their first go-round at actually starting, so we’re going to be trying to find our identity. I’m up for the challenge. I’m excited, and the kids are excited also.”
In some cases, battles for starting spots get resolved towards the end of preseason practices, but Wright said many of his players could be moving around depending on the situation.
“Due to our depth, you really can’t go 11-on-11 day in and day out to see who can actually win a job at a certain spot,” Wright said.
“It’s going to happen in a game where I may have two guys that looked equal in practice at a similar position, but I may need to change someone’s position depending on the game plan. It’s one thing to go against teammates, but it’s another thing when you’re in live action.”
If the Bulldogs are to open the season with a win on the road, Wright said his team must avoid miscues.
“I think we have to control the clock, and limit our turnovers,” Wright said. “If we limit our mistakes and can control the clock and the line of scrimmage, I think we’ll be fine.”