ELIZABETHTOWN — After two weeks of battling wet conditions and having the schedule turned topsy-turvy, East Bladen gets back to a relatively normal week just in time for its homecoming game on Friday against Pender County.
“Homecoming itself can always be a little bit of a distraction,” said Eagles coach Robby Priest. “But the guys have to realize that their part of the deal for homecoming is winning the game.”
Pender County is coming off a short week after having last week’s game against Midway get postponed until Tuesday this week, a game in which the Patriots suffered a 39-0 loss.
“It’s a tough situation to go through,” Priest said. “We’ve gone through it ourselves.”
The 5-1, 1-1 Eagles are coming off a 49-19 loss to Four County Conference rival Clinton on Saturday. On Friday, they may get exactly what the doctor order against the 1-5, 0-2 Patriots.
“Well, they are pretty athletic,” Priest said. “We have to get back to basics and start getting better ourselves.”
Pender County will show primarily a double-wing offensive formation that is run-oriented, but the Patriots will spread things out from time to time. The offense, which has scored just 73 points over the first six games, is led by sophomore scatback Latrell Brown and junior running back Justin Hooper.
On defense, the Patriots will line up in a 40 and are led by senior defensive end Newkirk Antonio and junior linebacker Kreitzer Hayden. Pender County has allowed 260 points this season this far.
East Bladen has scored 192 points through six games and given up 106.
Priest said he’ll be looking for a few things Friday from his Eagles.
“I want to see us much more consistent on both sides of the ball,” he said. “We have to do the fundamental things better.”
The game will be broadcast live on Cool 105.3 FM by the Bladen Sports Network crew of Ricky Leinwand, Robert Hester, Dan Allen, Joe Melvin and Ron Daniel. The pre-game show starts at 7 p.m. and the kickoff will be 30 minutes later.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.
