Local teams return to grid iron tonight.
On the baseball diamond, Smackover and Horatio aren’t strangers to one another having collided during postseason play over the years.
However, it’s a different story on the gridiron, as the schools have never met previously.
But that changes tonight, as the Bucks and Lions square off in a 5-3A clash.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. from Smackover.
The Lions (2-2, 1-0) snapped a two-game losing streak last week with a 27-17 win at Genoa Central, while the Bucks (3-1, 1-0) cruised to a win at Centerpoint in their first game after a 20-day layoff.
For Smackover coach Brian Brown, the Lions are very similar to a team they faced earlier this year.
“They’re a lot like Foreman. They run a lot of the same stuff,” Brown said.
“We’ve seen some of it, and we’re back to working some of the stuff that they run.
“They run their fullback and quarterback a lot. They’re really a running team, so we’ve got to be back to playing the kind of defense we were when we were playing Foreman.”
Senior quarterback Trey Pickett ran for two scores and threw for another in last week’s win over the Dragons, while Kelton Turner, also a senior, topped the century mark for the second time in four games, tallying 159 yards on 22 carries in the win, and Brown said the Bucks must find a way to slow them down.
“Any veer team or slot team that you’re playing, you have to stop the fullback and quarterback,” Brown said.
Defensively, Brown said the Lions are similar to Centerpoint in one aspect.
“They run a stack defense, and they send a lot of linebackers,”
Brown said. “We had a lot of that last week, a lot of blitzing off the edge, that type of thing.”
Against the Knights, the Bucks were in command from the get-go, and Brown was pleased with his team’s fast start.
“We were worried that we weren’t going to play, but we ended up getting the game in,” Brown said.
“For us, it’s about executing. We look for them to play hard in every game, and at the start of the game, I thought we got after it really good. We got ahead really quick and put the pressure on them.
“We kept it on, and we got some kids in that hadn’t been playing as much, so we got to develop our depth.
“I thought we did a good job. The thing I was most worried about was finishing it off, and we kind off lulled through the third quarter, but overall, I’m pleased with the team.”
Greg Turner, who will sit out tonight’s game after being ejected from last week’s game at Centerpoint, and Dexter Crockett combined for three touchdowns, and while Brown was happy with their production, he also singled out the offensive line for their play.
“Both running backs played well, but our offensive line has been playing really great,” Brown said.
“I thought we really handled them up front well. They gave our backs room to run, and they did their job.”
Quarterback Roshard Boone threw three touchdown passes last week, and Brown said his quarterback’s numbers should’ve been better due to several drops by his receivers.
“I was impressed with Boone at quarterback,” Brown said. “It was wet out there and raining the whole first half, and I thought he threw the ball well.
“He only threw the ball six times, and we actually had three drops. A couple of them were tough drops, but we had them, so he should’ve been 6-for-6.
“He did a fabulous job of getting the ball out to where we wanted it. I thought he played a great game.”
Smackover’s defense also turned in a terrific performance by holding the Knights to just 117 yards of total offense with K.J. King returning an interception for a touchdown.
“They played well,” Brown said. “Coach (David) Osborn does a great job with those guys. I’ve said all along that this team plays hard and tackles well.
“If you do that, you can play good defense. We run to the football and tackle well, and that’s what we did. That’s contagious, and when you put other guys in, they do the same thing. We played really well.”
If the Bucks are to top the Lions and head into their conference showdown at Prescott with a four-game winning streak, Brown said his team must continue their trend of getting out of the gates quickly.
“I think we need to do the same thing we’ve been doing,” Brown said. “We’ve gotten out fast in a couple of games, but had a letdown in the second quarter.
“I think we played our best football in the second half. We’ve played pretty good special teams all year, but special teams was one of my disappointments last week.
“We did some really silly stuff on punts. We got a punt blocked, and we got an extra point blocked. We went back and got some that corrected.
“That’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been playing all three phases of the game, and that’s the name of the game.
“We’ve got to block well, tackle well and play special teams. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”