NEWBERRY — The Newberry High School Bulldogs are ready to face off against the Mid-Carolina High School Rebels tonight at Mike Ware Field.

The Bulldogs are coming off of their first loss against Chapman High School, Head Coach Phil Strickland said that during practice this week the team has been going back to the basics, reviewing film and correcting mistakes made in past games.

“After a loss last week, we’ve gone back to the drawing board and have been working on tackling and running, which we didn’t do a very good job on last week. We’ve got to move forward and get ready for Mid-Carolina because this is a big game for them and they are not going to roll over and play dead for us,” Strickland said. “Obviously, the kids are going to react after their first loss and we can either go north or south, and we want to make sure we go north.”

Mid-Carolina Head Coach Louie Alexander said that the team is looking forward to the challenge of facing the Bulldogs and have been working on getting better fundamentally during practice this week.

He added that since securing their first win against Woodruff last week, the Rebels will likely go into tonight’s game with high confidence, despite coming up short in previous games.

“Newberry is a big, fast and physical team. They are so good fundamentally in every phase of the game. In my opinion, they are one of the two best football teams in the Upstate. They are very good up front on both sides of the ball. They have one of the state’s premier running backs and their quarterback and fullback don’t get the credit they deserve. The linebackers and secondary are very good as well,” Alexander said.

Offensively, Alexander added that the team is working to create more ball possessions and establish a running game, with the key being to match Newberry’s level of physicality.

“On the defensive side, we are going to try and slow their running game just like everyone else they’ve played. That’s easy to say, but hard to do. With that being said, they’re good enough at play action and quick game to hurt you. We have to play responsibilities and assignments well tonight and create some turnovers,” he said.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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By Kelly Duncan

kduncan@newberryobserver.com

Reach Kelly Duncan at 803-768-3123 ext. 1868 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.