PRE-GAME HUDDLE

 After losing to No. 1 ranked Boyle County, Corbin Coach Steve Jewell must get his team focused for the North Laurel Jaguars Friday night at NLHS.

“I’m sure the Jungle will be rocking,” said Jewell. “They are 2-1, they had a really good year last season and they are confident.”

The Jaguars lost to Madison Central 27-13 on the road to open the season then returned home to beat Williamsburg 41-20. Last week the Jaguars got a big win over archrival South Laurel, 20-17.

“It’s a short week for us and we have to put last week behind us,” said Jewell. “This is priority one for us…North Laurel.”

Corbin will have to stop the running game of Hughie Wagers, Johnny Fugate and Ronnie Rotondi.

“We feel like their running game is very consistent,” said Jewell. “They have a good offensive line that comes off the ball well. I am really impressed with the decisions the Fugate kid makes at quarterback. He will pull it down and run it and he will also pass the ball.”

Fugate completed 4-of-5 against the Cardinals last week, hitting Wagers on two big passes that totaled 54 yards.

However, it was the running game that helped the Jaguars pull off the win at South Laurel. Rotondi had 19 carries for 97 yards and a touchdown, while Wagers had 57 yards and a TD.

“Rotondi is a real quick back,” said Jewell. “He does a good job bouncing that ball out and getting it in the corner. He stretches your defense out.”

Jewell said his staff was not stressing North Laurel as much as getting the players prepared mentally. “We want to get our kids mentally focused and get these little mistakes out of the way,” he said.

“Where we have scouted them we feel like we know what they are going to do,” said Jewell. “We want to be prepared and have our game plan.”

“We want to clean up our linemen errors, our technique errors, whether we are tackling with the right arm or the wrong arm,” he added.

“As far as effort, I am not worried about our kids,” he said. “They showed me a lot, even in the fourth quarter. I was really impressed with the effort and the fight we had. I think we can win with that kind of effort.”

•Williamsburg will host the Knox Central Panthers Friday night. It will be the Alumni Bowl and Homecoming all wrapped in one.

The Panthers are 2-1 with wins over Clay County, (9-6) and South Laurel, (27-7). Knox Central suffered a 29-28 loss to top-ranked Johnson Central in the Appalachian Bowl at Manchester last week.

Junior quarterback Johnathan Barger along with senior wide receiver Travis Canady and junior Johnathan Turpin lead the Panthers.

Williamsburg has gotten consistent play from senior quarterback Ethan Powers, Kevin Hoffman and Cody Perkins on defense.

“We have to do a better job of executing our offense,” said Williamsburg Coach Jerry Herron. “I feel like we are getting a little stale and waiting around for a couple of kids to make all the plays. We need to get some more production from some of the other positions.”

“Defensively, we’ve got to be ready for the run because you know Knox Central is going to run the ball against us,” said Herron “They will also throw it a little, so this will be a good week of preparation.”

“We are playing a great team this week, most people are picking them to battle Bell County neck-and-neck for the region this year,” said Herron.

•The Whitley County Colonels will be at Bell County Friday night. The Colonels had the week off to prepare for the Bobcats.

Quarterback Ben Madon, who has thrown for five touchdowns in the first two games and running back Cory Davenport, leads the Bobcats. Davenport has five touchdowns on 14 carries. He leads the team in yards with 274.

Bell County’s Ryan Collett and John Dudley Hilton have run the ball for two touchdowns each. Collett has 12 carries for 164 yards while Hilton, who leads the defense, has 71 yards on just 10 carries.

In their first two games, the Colonels have relied on Justin Goins at wide receiver and running back Cody Bramlett, Boston Bryant, Cody Bowlin, Jordan Singleton and Jordan Chute.

Singleton leads the team in yards with 204 on seven carries. He has two touchdowns in two games.

Defensively, Boston Bryant had 26 tackles in two games with Soloman Vanover at 15 tackles.

•Lynn Camp will be at Pineville Friday night. Coach David Mitchell could not be reached for comment.