CRESTVIEW — Crestview High School's football team, in search of its first win of the season, hosts a talented Rickards squad Friday night.
The Bulldogs (0-2) are coming off a tough, turnover plagued, 21-10 loss to Choctawhatchee. The Bulldogs will have to cut down on mistakes against the Raiders, Coach Tim Hatten said.
“I think we had seven turnovers, a blocked punt and a blocked field goal,” he said. “It’s the same old football story: If you make mistakes, you lose. I don’t know of anybody that could overcome, that and we certainly couldn’t.
“Any time you play a group of athletes (like Rickards has) you are going to face some issues where, if you get caught in space, you are going to have some problems — particularly if you don’t have as many athletes. They are going to be a spread team. Like most high school offenses, it’s 'Get the ball to your best players and see what happens,’ and that’s what they do.”
The Raiders (1-1) opened the year with a 45-7 win over Chiles before losing to Leon last week 28-7.
Junior athlete Kalin Riles had two rushing touchdowns and had a touchdown reception against Chiles. Senior running back Deion Hogan ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns against Chiles.
Hatten likes the way the Bulldog defense is playing and thinks it will be ready for Rickards.
“I thought our defensive effort after the first two ball games was phenomenal,” he said. “We looked just like us last year (on defense) and that’s what we expected this year. You can win football games playing defense like that.
“We have to have the same defensive effort this week. Offensively, we’ve got to control the turnovers.”
Crestview has rolled up close to 700 yards in total offense in the first two games, but has scored just 24 points.
Hatten said he’s more focused on what his team does than what Rickards might do Friday.
“I’m not concerned with anybody we play,” he said. “I’m concerned with how we perform, particularly on offense. Do we do what we should do? Do we make the adjustments we need to? Do we have the right run-throw reads? Those are the things that concern me — do we have a read game on offense?”
There’s another set of questions the defense must answer.
“Defensively, are we playing aggressive,” Hatten said. “Are we playing gap control? Are we stopping the run?
“If you don’t stop the run in high school football, you really don’t have a chance. We answered some of those questions last week on defense and said, ‘Yeah, we are doing those things.’ Offensively, we couldn’t answer those questions and put points on the board.”
Friday, the Bulldog offense will have a chance to answer its questions against the Raiders.
EmailNews Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
UPCOMING
WHAT: High school football, Rickards at Crestview
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Jack Foster Stadium, Crestview High School
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bulldogs seek answers against Rickards