County rivals looking to get back in win column
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Georgiana coach Greg Ennis is looking for his Panther squad to get a shot of confidence, while interim coach Timothy Moorer is looking to find a way to stop a 13-game losing skid that dates back to 2004.
Georgiana is coming off a 26-6 region loss at Washington County in which the Panthers (1-2) gave up 20 unanswered points in the second half despite outgaining the Bulldogs in total offense 324-219.
"You can't win when you turn the ball over six times," Ennis said. "We did a poor job of playing ball control in the second half, and we've got to improve on that starting Friday night."
While the Panthers are looking to get back on the winning track as they play their first of three games over the next seven days, Moorer takes over a McKenzie football team with just two days to prepare for the Panthers.
Moorer took over as interim head coach on Wednesday after David Kirkland submitted his resignation as football coach and athletic director Tuesday morning.
As of Tuesday, the Tigers (0-4) had just 19 players on its roster. The Tigers still do not have a senior on the squad and just a couple juniors. A majority of the team is comprised of junior varsity-level players.
Moorer, who was the head junior varsity coach, has led the baby Tigers to a 2-0 start, and McKenzie Principal Randy Williams hopes his success will carry over.
"We've had success on the junior varsity circuit, and our JV team is basically our varsity team," Williams said.
With a new coach at the helm in McKenzie, will that make it harder for Ennis to prepare for Friday's game?
"(Moorer)'s been running the same thing that (Strikland) was as a junior varsity coach," Ennis said. He runs some of the basic plays that David ran on the junior varsity team, and that was smart on (Moorer's) part."
After suffering a shoulder injury, starting sophomore quarterback Andre Paige was sidelined during last Friday's game at Washington County. The tandem of Joel Maye and Zebbie Mitchell completed 3-of-14 pass attempts for 47 yards.
Ennis said that he is confident that Paige will return and play this Friday against McKenzie.
McKenzie's biggest test will be how to slow down Georgiana running back Zane Stackhouse.
The senior tailback rushed for 274 yards on 22 carries last week against Washington County, but he was held out of the end zone. Stackhouse has averaged more than 200 yards per game over the course of the last three games.