Florala hosts Red Level in final contest of season

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, October 26, 2010

After falling 68-0 to region foe Kinston last week, the Florala Wildcats are looking to rebound, and get a rivalry win over Red Level this Friday night to cap off the 2010 season, FHS coach Chris Buckler said.

Despite having a one-win season so far, Buckler said his team has made considerable strides compared to the last two seasons.

“A win this week would be huge for us,” he said. “Right now, we’re on par with what we’ve done the last two years before I got here — having one win seasons.

“We’ve scored a lot more points, and we’re giving up a lot less,” he said about this season. “We’re progressing, but we’re not progressing in the win-loss column yet. I think it’s going to come.”

The Wildcats have scored 95 points this season on offense.

This week, Florala (1-8) will be holding its senior night, where three players (Lavoris Ball, Zac Fleming and Zac Dorsey) will be recognized at the game.

“It’ll be nice to have senior night sending those guys off in style,” Buckler said. “We match up a little bit better with Red Level. They aren’t as fast as some of the teams we’ve seen the last couple of weeks, but they’re well-coached.

“They’ve got a lot of talent,” he said. “They got beat up a little bit against Elba. We’re both coming off some hard losses, and hopefully we’ll try to get ourselves better.”

Red Level lost to top-ranked Elba, 48-14.

Buckler said the players played with a lot of “heart” in the loss last week.

“I was proud of our kids last week,” he said. “The score doesn’t amount to the heart some of these young layers played with. It says a lot about our kids.”

Buckler added that he’d like to see a big crowd at home Friday night.

“I know we’ve had a tough season, but our crowd has been amazing this year,” Buckler said. “I hope they understand we have a very young football team. I want them to come out and support us.

“It’s a county rivalry game, and let’s have a good crowd for our seniors more importantly,” he said.