JOHN MIDDLETON
Sports Editor
Fresh off of a bye week, the Harlan County Black Bears will look to pick up where they left off. The last outing saw Harlan County dismantle Gate City, Va. 55-0, and the Bears will attempt to knock off another Virginia team as they travel to Lee on Friday.
“I feel like this is the best fundamental team they have had there in a long time. So, it’s a game we have to go in to ready,” said Harlan County coach Tom Larkey. “They have a big offensive and defensive line that is very aggressive, and they play hard.”
Harlan County overpowered the Generals on its way to a 42-0 victory last season, and the Black Bears will look to do the same thing again this year.
“I’m going to line up and see if we can’t run it. Of course, we are trying to mix in some of the spread offense and run the football at the same time now. We are trying to spread the field a little bit and get the gall in some other people’s hands,” Larkey said.
The Generals are off to a 1-2 start to the season, and for a youthful squad, matching the Bears physical style of play could prove to be difficult.
“Harlan County will be the most physical team we have played so far, and probably the most physical team we will play. We just have to stay in our positions and play our positions,” said first-year Lee coach Terry Martin. “We can’t get out of positions at all.”
Martin said turnovers have doomed the Generals, and the coach said his team must correct that problem this week.
“We have to stop turning the ball over. We have put ball on ground way too much this year. We have a good scheme but we can’t keep putting ball on ground,” he said.
Lee has traditionally featured a ground-oriented offensive attack, but the Generals have opened things up under their new head coach.
“We are more open on offense. We are not just trying to run it right at you, but trying to make use of our skill kids,” Martin said. “We’ re young, and have a lot of sophomores and freshman. Hopefully, it will pay off for us down the road.”
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Post a Comment
