Bulldogs plan to bounce back
Published 12:01 am Friday, August 30, 2019
- Star Photo/Ivan Sanders The Hampton offense put up good numbers last week in a loss but will look to rebound and put the football in the end zone against Unicoi County tonight.
BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
After Suffering a tough loss two hours from home last Friday Night the Hampton Bulldogs are looking to regroup as they will go up against the Blue Devils of Unicoi County this week.
Last week’s game was a tough one to look back on for the ‘Dogs but this week head coach Michael Lunsford is preaching one big thing to his team.
Lunsford says that the motto that he is giving his team is crucial for their success.
“I’m telling these guys that they need to have a short memory and get ready for the next team we’re gonna face,” Lunsford said. “It’s not about how many times we get knocked down but how many times we get back up.”
Looking back on last weeks game against Gatlinburg Pittman and his team’s performance Lunsford expanded “I’ll be honest I thought we played very well offensively, we had about three hundred yards on the ground against a defensive front that was massive.
“We struggled on defense a little but that was partly my fault seeing as some of the things were confusing for my guys. We gave great effort but Gatlinburg Pittman is a heck of a ball team.”
With Unicoi County having a stud at the running back position in Kody Lewis, Lunsford has been game-planning for a rushing attack that will be expected.
He explained saying “We’ve been working on our tackling a lot this week. We had a lot of missed tackles the other night in Gatlinburg and we’re gonna need to be able to tackle well to limit his (Lewis) rushing attack.”
If the Bulldogs want to add a one next to their win column, they will need to do some specific things in order to come away happy.
Lunsford said “Well first off we’re gonna need to stop Lewis. He’s a heck of a ballplayer and if we don’t limit him it will be a lot harder for us to win the game. The other thing we need to do is finish our drives.
“We had two drives where we had the ball inside the ten-yard line ready to score but we had a few mental mistakes that kept us from the end zone. If we can do both of those things then we have a great opportunity to come away with a victory.”
The Bulldogs will travel to Gentry Stadium in Erwin in hopes of their first win Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
