BAKER — It will be the preseason version of the War on Highway 4 on Friday when Baker hosts Jay in the 2014 Kickoff Classic.
Gator Coach Matt Brunson expects his players to be ready for the Royals.
“Having Jay come in it adds some excitement to it,” he said. “Any time we play Jay our kids are going to play hard, and so are they (the Royals), so it is exciting.
“We’ve got some guys that are in some position battles and we will get to evaluate them against Jay’s guys.”
The middle school, junior varsity and varsity teams will play.
“We are going to try and get all our Gators on the field — that’s our goal,” Brunson said. “The most important thing is it’s a dress rehearsal before our first regular season game. We get to treat it like a real game with it not affecting our record.
“We want them to play at a high level, but we also want to get everybody in the game. We can’t go game speed in practice so that will be another thing we will be looking at.”
While the Gators will play to win, Brunson says fans shouldn’t judge the team based on a preseason game.
“There is no indicator that what happens Friday night will happen in the (regular season) games because it’s a preseason classic,” he said. “I’m sure they want to get all their people in the game.
“We don’t want to show too much because we have changed a few things and we will be playing for real the next Friday night.”
UPCOMING
WHAT: Kickoff Classic, Jay at Baker
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Baker School, Doug Griffith Memorial Stadium
Email News Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: COACH: Gators will play to win Friday, but play 'for real' Aug. 29