NEWBERRY — The Newberry High School Bulldogs square off against Keenan High School in a home match up tonight that will feature the Homecoming festivities that were postponed last week due to inclement weather.
Kick off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. There was no word at press time if the game — and homecoming — would be delayed due to concerns with the weather from Hurricane Joaquin.
“Hopefully it won’t be a distraction,” said Newberry head coach Phil Strickland, who wants to keep his players focused on the game, and not Homecoming.
Keenan is 4-2 on the season and Strickland expects them to put up a good fight.
“They’re a pretty talented football team. They’re pretty balanced on offense,” Strickland said of Keenan.
Strickland’s main goal for his defense this week is to contain the Raiders’ offense and prevent big plays that will inevitably put much emphasis on solid play from Newberry’s corners as Keenan likes to run a lot of screens, according to Strickland.
On the other side of the ball, Strickland plans to utilize the run game as much as possible where Newberry has had much success this season.
“If they start crowding the box, we’re going to have to loosen them up by throwing,” said Strickland.
Fortunately for Newberry, everyone on the squad is healthy and the Bulldogs are not down any starters this week.
With a win this week, Newberry would improve to 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in the region for the second straight year.
Newberry leads the series against Keenan 13-4 dating back to 1976.