Sports Editor

Wayne Grant and his Pike County Bulldogs spent Thursday watching film in preparation for tonight’s game against the Lanett Panthers.

Lanett lost last week to Beauregard and this will the opening regional contest for them as well as Pike County.

Grant said with all the rain that fell on the county this week, it was hard to work much practice in.

"We’ve practiced some, but with the rain on Wednesday we had to go inside to the gymnasium and run plays," he said. "We worked at the chalkboard, watched film and lifted weights."

After spending the last few weeks making sure the field in Bulldog Stadium was properly watered down, Grant now finds the field much to wet for his liking.

"I wish I could take a vacuum and get some of that water off," he said, laughing. "But really it’s going to be a challenge to our football team. We can’t have turnovers and we have to play good defense."

Grant said he hopes the lack of contact during the week doesn’t take away anything from his team.

"I just hope we’ll be mentally prepared," he said. "Not hitting on each other, maybe our players will be fresh on Friday night and ready to play harder."

Offensively, Grant said the Panthers line up in the I-formation when they run the football and drop the quarterback into the shotgun when they pass.

"When they drop into the shotgun they’re going to throw every time," he said. "If they get into a long yardage situation or get behind they are going to go into the shotgun and spread the field."

Grant said basically Lanett likes to rely on a short, quick passing game, but will go deep when they are behind.

On defense the Panthers will be in a 4-3 alignment and Grant said the blocking of the offensive line was critical to the success of the Bulldogs’ running game.

"Watching the tape from last week, Beauregard missed a lot of blocks on Lanett’s defensive line. We’ve got to be able to make those blocks," he said.