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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com 
After withstanding an onslaught by a group of Indians this past week, Hampton just can’t seem to escape playing teams with vicious mascots as this week the Bulldogs hit the road for a long road trip to Meigs County where they have the arduous task of taking on the Meigs Tigers who have been ranked at the top of Class 2-A all season.

However, the one difference is this week, the Tigers will be playing a team that doesn’t care if they are playing the worst team or the best team in the state as the ‘Dogs know at this point in the season its all about taking care of business to live another day toward advancing to the Class 2A state championship.

It will be a matchup of two big lines beating and pounding on each other and trying to stop the opposing backfield led by their superstar quarterbacks in Conor Jones from Hampton and Logan Carroll, a 5’10, 190-pound junior.

Many say that Carroll is better than the Tigers 2019 stud quarterback Aaron Swafford who took his skills to the Naval Academy.

“Their quarterback is quick as a cat,” said Hampton head coach Michael Lunsford. “Some think he is way better than last year’s quarterback.

“They also have a good running back and that gives them two explosive players in the backfield.”

While Meigs may have those players, there is a package of dynamite in the ‘Dogs backfield as well when you take into consideration the trio of Morgan Lyons, Aidan Vines, and Levi Lunsford to go along with Jones.

Jones also has a solid core of receivers in Dylan Trivett and Jonathan Greenwell when he wants to go to the air.

The bottom line of this contest will come down to which team can play without making critical mistakes whether it be via turnovers or with the yellow hanky flying.

“There is not enough difference between us,” Lunsford added. “We can’t have mistakes like penalties backing us up to first and 15 or second and 10 plays from the line of scrimmage.

“We have to stay ahead of the chains. They are really good and are big and strong upfront.”

Lunsford knows what lies ahead for his team as Meigs County has been to the big show only to fall short last year to Peabody in the state championship final.

However, anyone that knows Hampton football knows that the ‘Dogs are not a team to let the hype get under their skin when they take the field.

“One thing about these kids is they just want to go and play,” Lunsford said about the mental side of the game. “By all means when you looked at Volunteer, you would think that they would be a team hard to handle.

“You know that we came out ready to play and took care of business. We have to handle our business against Meigs County if we want that appointment in the third round of the playoffs.”

The one key that Hampton hopes to do is to jump on the Tigers early and play with the lead. There have been only two times this season that the ‘Dogs have played from behind and that was in games against Cloudland when they were down 7-0 early and then the last 28 seconds of the South Greene game.

In other words, the ‘Dogs love to play with the lead.

“Playing with the lead is what we feel comfortable with and is what we have to do,” Lunsford commented.

Kickoff for the game in Meigs County will be 7 pm.