Straughn, Pike County winner will get edge in region

Published 2:45 pm Thursday, October 10, 2024

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Straughn (3-3, 3-1 4A Region 2) will hope recent history repeats itself in a crucial contest at Pike County (3-3, 3-1) on Friday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m.

This matchup will be the 11th between the two teams since they first met in 2002. The Bulldogs have a 7-3 lead in the all-time series, but the Tigers have claimed the last two games by the exact same score.

“Pike County has a tremendously athletic team. Their coaching staff does a great job of getting their guys ready to play,” Head Coach Garrett Windham said. “We’ll have to do a good job defensively of keeping those guys in front of us and making sure they are having to string together drives. We can’t give up big plays because they have the capability to do that. It will come down to us being able to control the offensive and defensive lines. We’ll have to play a clean game and minimize self-inflicted penalties that could stall or extend drives.”

Last week, Straughn held on for a close homecoming win against Ashford, 21-14. Pike County posted a home shutout victory over Daleville, 40-0.

Windham described last week’s game as physical and said he was proud to see his team compete in all four quarters.

“It was exciting to get a big region win at home and go blow-for-blow until the end. We talked all week about all the distractions that could surround a homecoming week but not to lose sight of the most important event of the week. We did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage offensively and letting our backs run. I believe we only threw one pass all night, which says a lot about our guys up front. I thought the defense played very well once again, and minus one or two big plays, it felt like we were in control for most of the game,” Windham said.

The Tigers earned a 20-19 road win against the Bulldogs last season.