Hampton looks to chase down Bears for second win of year
Published 8:00 am Wednesday, August 30, 2023
- Contributed Photo/Robert Liles Hampton's Elijah McKinney makes a great open field tackle.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
STAR CORRESPONDENT
The Hampton Bulldogs will be on the hunt this coming Friday as they will be looking to chase some bears up a tree when Hampton travels to Canton, NC, to take on the Pisgah High Bears in a non-conference tilt.
Pisgah comes into the contest with a 2-0 start under its belt following a 56-3 beat down of Enka on Friday night. That follows a 24-10 season-opening win over Brevard.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are entering the game with a 1-1 record after gaining their first win of the young season, a 32-26 hard-fought battle over the home-standing Johnson Co. Longhorns. Hampton dropped its first game of the year to Pigeon Forge at home.
According to Hampton head coach Michael Lunsford, his young team will be facing a team much like Johnson Co. in the fact they can either throw the football or run it for big chunks of yards.
“They have 900 kids at their school and have some really good athletes,” said Lunsford. “They are a very explosive team. They competed very well in a home and home series against David Crockett when Crockett had Prince Kollie playing.”
Hampton, meanwhile, is dealing with the loss of two starters in their defensive backfield – one at linebacker and one at corner, that Lunsford is trying to patch up but also is causing some of his offensive starters to have to play both ways, which essential means they are playing every snap of the football.
“They are so balanced,” said Lunsford, speaking about the Bears. “Their quarterback is a good athlete that can run and they have two or three kids that they can throw the football too. The quarterback also is elusive and can escape the pocket. Keeping him bottled in is a big factor in this ball game. It’s hard to find something that they don’t do well – it’s just hard to find.”
Lunsford, meanwhile, is very proud of what his Bulldogs did last week on the road at Johnson Co. as the Bulldogs were led by junior Domnique Burleson with three rushing scores while Geno Carrico added one score on the ground.
Dylan Trivett was the defensive leader in the Longhorn game as well.
“We had to battle against a team that likes to throw the football a lot,” said Lunsford. “I think that we showed a lot of toughness. We just need to be more disciplined and not make as many rookie mistakes. We are still a young group on a learning curve and we need to play smarter. I am proud of our guys and their effort to get better.”
The game will get underway at 7:30 pm.
