One week at a time.
That’s how Apalachee High School head football coach Shane Davis is looking at his team’s effort to reach the postseason again.
The Wildcats, who enter this Friday’s game with Rockdale County 4-1, are not looking ahead rather, simply focusing on the immediate task at hand.
“We have five more left,” Davis said of the 2010 regular season. “The only one that matters right now is Rockdale County.”
AHS is coming off a huge performance last week when the team defeated Madison County 63-20 after falling behind 20-7 at one point.
“It was nice to see us do so well in the second half after starting so slowly,” Davis said. “We played well enough in the first half to keep us in the game. Our line played well and we were able to spread the wealth with our backs. It was nice to see us have such a big win.”
It will take a similar effort this Friday when Rockdale County visits R. Harold Harrison Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
“Rockdale has improved to 3-3 now after a slow start,” Davis said. “Offensively, they’ve gotten better. They made a few personnel changes which have benefited them. They have great speed and their defense always seems to be good.”
A key for AHS this Friday will be controlling the clock, Davis said.
“We need to maintain time of possession,” Davis said. “The best defense is to keep the opponent’s offense off the field. The more time our offense has the football, the better off we will be.”
The Wildcats enter this week’s game healthy, Davis said.
While Apalachee defeated Rockdale County during the 2009 regular season, it was the Bulldoggs who eventually advanced to the state semifinals against Clarke Central. (AHS also defeated the Gladiators during the regular season.)
The Wildcats advanced to the third round of the state playoffs in 2009.
Rockdale had a big defensive effort last Friday in its win against county rival Salem.
“Numbers wise, Rockdale is the best defense in the region,” said AHS offensive coordinator Joel Miller. “They are big, physical, fast and aggressive. They will base out of the 3-5, but will show a 4-4 look as well.”
Miller said Rockdale has players who are being recruited or have committed to Division 1-A schools.
“We have to somehow control their team speed, by using our angles to get on our blocks and stay on our blocks,” Miller said. “We have to be physical at the point of attack, so we can create the running lanes we need to be successful against a very good defense. We must also avoid long yardage situations due to penalties and missed assignments. The past few games we have started slowly on offense and we need to try and break that trend this week. This is a big game for both teams, so we need to play with a lot of fire and emotion.”
