It's Scotland County vs. Marlboro County.

As if this rivalry contest needed anymore billing, both teams come in with undefeated records for the first time since the 2007 season and both look to continue its early season success when they face off tonight at 7:30 p.m.

For Scotland coach Chip Williams, who is in search of his first win over the Bulldogs, he knows that undefeated records add to the importance of this game.

"It's a big game. Coach (Dean) Boyd does a good job over at Marlboro County," said Williams. "They've been very successful and we've been kind of a catch-up but hopefully we've caught up to them."

Could it be deja vu'?

The last time that the Scots defeated the Bulldogs (a 19-14 victory in 2007), they went on to win its first eight games and finished with a 10-3 record.

This Scotland bunch resembles that 07' squad in many ways. They have a ground and pound running game, and a stifling defense to go along with the experience that they possess.

Off and running

For the second consecutive week, the Scots rushed for over 200 yards (277 to be exact) in a 35-6 victory over New Hanover.

Tony McRae became the second Scotland player to rush for over 100 yards in a game with a 15 carry, 141-yard performance last week. Kwashawn Quick was the first, when he ran for 106 yards in week one.

So far, the Scots have accumulated 526 yards on the ground through two games and no turnovers, something Williams hopes will continue.

"I think being turnover-free and penalty-free as much as we can has certainly helped," Williams said. "When you keep the ball in front of you, you get alot more wins."

Defense

If anyone had questions about how good this Scotland defense is, look no further then last week's game.

The Scots forced seven turnovers (six fumbles and an interception) while holding New Hanover's Bates Taylor to only 131 passing yards.

As a unit, Scotland yielded 131 yards (half of what they allowed the week before to Seventy-First) on the ground and 48 of those came on the Wildcats lone scoring drive late in the fourth quarter.

"I think we're +9 on the year for turnovers and as long as we stay in that category, then we'll be pretty successful," said Williams. "You have to give alot of credit to both lines (offensive and defensive), they control the line of scrimmage on both sides. I think at times we've gotten a little game tired."

"I know that we're very capable of control the line and I think that if we can do that's going to be for tonight's game. Marlboro's got a big defensive line and the offensive line is the same way so we're going to have our hands full trying to control them," Williams added

Inside the dog house.

Marlboro, who defeated Scotland, 38-7, last year is coming off a 30-0 blow-out of Cheraw High School last Friday night.

The defensive line helped the Bulldogs hold the Braves to just 95 yards of total offense and only 20 yards through the air.

On the offensive side, Marlboro, like the Scots, enjoyed running the ball and chewing up the clock as they rushed for 233 yards.

What makes the Bulldogs so dangerous is its versatile offense. Quarterback Brian Townsend passed for 134 yards, 115 of them went to his favorite target, wide receiver Malik Ford.

“Play like its 0-0,”

In his halftime speech during the Thursday afternoon’s 9th grade football, Scotland coach Rod Quick Jr. told his team to come out with the same intensity in the second half as they did at the beginning of the game.

His boys did just that.

The Scots scored four touchdowns in the first half and never looked back, cruising to a 38-0 win over Hoke in the season opener at Pate Stadium.

"One of our big questions coming in defensively was was going to be how we would adjust to game speed because its real hard to make that happen during practice without causing injury," said Quick.

Quarterback Andy Weeks led the Scots scoring attack that jumped out to a 30-0 halftime lead, scoring a pair of touchdowns and converting on three two-point conversions.

"That's what we want him to do," Quick said about Weeks. "We want him to take charge of the team. He ran the ball in, pitched the ball when he needed to. There was a few times where he made the right call to keep the ball and he did a goo job of it."

Josh McPhatter had a score on the ground and he also had a two-point conversion. Tre Thomas also had a rushing touchdown.

Trejon Munley scored a defensive touchdown when he returned a fumble for a touchdown. Isiah Hale also had an interception.

Though the win pleases Quick, he knows that the team has something to build off of when the Scots travel to South View next Thursday at 4 p.m.

"We've got a whole lot to build off of," said Quick. "We're going to see them again and that's going to test how much better we've gotten and I told the kids after the game that we've got to continue to get better."