CRESTVIEW — It’s Homecoming Week at Crestview High School as the Bulldog football team hosts Pine Forest.
Crestview (2-4) is coming off a 35-21 win over Leon, and Coach Tim Hatten isn’t concerned so much with the week's activities as he is getting the team ready for the Eagles.
“We don’t have a lot to do with homecoming,” he said. “We’ve got to concentrate on trying to win a football game, regardless of whether it’s homecoming or what it is. Nothing really changes for us.
“Homecoming is for the fans. It’s for the student body and, more than anything else, the student organizations.”
Pine Forest (2-4) enters the game having lost four straight. But Hatten isn’t fooled by their record.
“They are like most everybody in this area,” he said. “They’ve got a pretty competitive schedule and they’ve been on the wrong end of some close ones. They lost a game in overtime to Tate.
“They are a quality team. They’ve got athletes that can run around. And when people have athletes that can run around, big plays are always something that you fear.”
The Eagles operate out of multiple offensive formations ranging from the Spread to the Wing-T.
Hatten believes if the Bulldog defense plays assignment football they should be in good shape.
“As long as we control our gaps we should be OK,” he said. “We want to make sure we don’t get outmanned on any one corner and then we should be OK in terms of being sound.”
Hatten expects to see multiple defense looks from Pine Forest as well.
“They show a four-man front and they show a five-man front,” he said. “They send pressure and play some man in the secondary. It’s sounds cliché but we count box numbers and work on box numbers and what they do and what they don’t do.
“We should have a plan no matter they do. With us calling plays at the line of scrimmage it makes it a lot easier on us.”
The last two weeks, the Bulldogs have played their best ball of the season, picking up wins over Fort Walton Beach and Leon. Crestview has a chance to make it three wins in a row Friday. But Hatten expects a tough game from the Eagles.
“It’s football — they are going to score some points and I think we are going to score some points,” Hatten said. "I think it’s going to come down to who makes the most mistakes, as it is in every game.
"We will go in there just like we have the last two ball games and hope we make the fewer mistakes and win.”
WANT TO GO?
WHAT: High school football, Pine Forest at Crestview
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Crestview High School, Jack Foster 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: Hatten: Bulldogs must concentrate on winning a game