LAURINBURG — Scotland and Hoggard are on two different paths heading into Friday night’s football game at Pate Stadium. Scotland is playing its second game in a span of five days after weather pushed last week’s season opener from Friday to Monday. Hoggard has yet to play a game this season — the Vikings were left with an open space last week after South Robeson High School closed earlier this year.
The Fighting Scots are recovering from a 27-3 win over Southeast Guilford on Monday. The tight window between games made the process of preparing for Hoggard more challenging, Scotland coach Richard Bailey said.
“It makes it difficult, especially when you’re playing two good football teams,” Bailey said. “Normally when you play on Friday, you have Saturday and Sunday to recover. Even with that, Mondays are usually a little tough.”
The Fighting Scots had a walkthrough on Tuesday, using the time to get reps in without much physical contact.
The pads will be back on Friday night as Scotland faces the team they beat 47-46 in an East Regional nailbiter two years ago. Scotland quarterback Warren Bell converted on a two-point conversion to win the game in overtime.
Scotland relied almost entirely on running the ball in that 2017 matchup. Bell ran the ball 45 times for 309 yards, and Syheam McQueen carried the ball 35 times for 200 yards.
This time the around, the Scots are hoping to throw the ball a little more than usual. Scotland put that initiative into action against Southeast Guilford, as quarterbacks Tyler Barfield and Mandrell Johnson threw for a combined 163 yards. That number could have been bigger if not for a couple of turnovers and botched plays.
Bailey said his team will continue to incorporate passing into its scheme, which has been run-heavy in years past. He also said the Scots need to expect the unexpected from an opponent that has had two weeks to prepare for Friday’s game.
“I’m sure they’ve gotten film from people, and they’ve played us in previous years,” Bailey said. “We’re not one of these teams that changes a whole bunch from year to year. I expect there to be a lot of wrinkles. Wouldn’t be surprised to see the world of trick plays come out. Some of those things are hard to prepare for because you don’t know they’re coming.
”… hopefully they’ll have first-game jitters a little bit, and maybe make some mistakes that you haven’t had a chance to correct because you haven’t played a real game,” Bailey added. “No matter how much you scrimmage, until you get in a real game, sometimes you don’t learn everything you need to know about your football team.”
Friday’s game is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.