With high school football season nearing an end, teams are preparing for a chance to make the playoffs.
For some teams, the season is more about learning, building character and gaining experience.
For the Calloway County Lakers, when a season hasn’t been as successful as hoped, it turns into a learning experience for younger players in varsity situations.
“Well, the season got off to a rough start with their star QB and star defensive end going down in the first game against Murray High,” said radio personality Blake Bernier, who covers the Lakers for WBZB-FM. “Injuries played a huge part in their slow start. They also lost three starting linemen because of them graduating.”
With the playoffs out of reach for the Lakers (0-7), the coaches have decided to look more toward the future and give the young freshmen and sophomores their first chance at playing under the Friday night lights.
“Coach (Mickey Garrison) and I discussed this a little, but once the season kind of reached that point where the playoffs are out of reach and you know you’re not going to go that far, they put it in their game plan to get the younger guys more looks,” Bernier said.
Murray High, on the other hand, is in a position to fight for a home playoff spot and second place in the district. Murray is coming off its biggest win of the season, a 71-0 home field victory over Webster County.
“It was a complete game for us,” said Murray High head coach Keith Hodge. “Overall, I felt like that was our first game of the year where I felt like we came out in the first quarter ready to execute and ready to play and we actually did. We capitalized on some mistakes Webster made and took advantage of that and put points on the board and we never looked back.”
Hodge is pushing his team to continue playing at a high level and win the remaining two games on their schedule and secure a home playoff game for the Tigers. The Tigers face district foe Ballard Memorial (2-6) tonight and complete the season with Union County (6-2) on Oct. 27.
“It’s huge for us to play at home in the playoffs the first round,” Hodge said. “To play at Ty Holland in front of our home crowd, that’s a big deal to our players, our fans and our community.”