By Casey Castle
Register Sports Writer
RICHMOND —
When the Madison Southern football team takes on Lincoln County Friday night, it could be an important turning point for both programs.
But Southern coach David Brumley stopped short of calling the contest a must-win game for either team.
“I think we’re both in similar boats,” Brumley said. “We haven’t had a lot of wins the last couple of years. I don’t want to say it’s a pivotal game for the either program, but they need to get the ship righted and so do we.”
Southern (0-1) goes into Friday’s contest at home trying to snap a six-game skid. Lincoln County (0-1) comes into the game having lost eight of its last nine. The Patriots were defeated 42-20 by Rowan County last week as part of the Death Valley Bowl.
Southern is coming off a bye week, giving the Eagles a chance to recuperate after being shut out 56-0 at home by West Jessamine.
Brumely said his team used that time to get back to basics.
“We just tried to work on fundamentals and tried to keep the guys upbeat and positve,” he said. “This week we got conditioning in which I hope will pay off Friday night.”
Brumley expects the Patriots to come with a running attack against his defense.
“They’re going to try to pound the ball at us,” he said. “I don’t think throwing hte ball is their strong suit. They have some decent-sized linemen, and they want to run the ball.”
The Eagles will be stronger this week. Devon Johnson was out of the game against West, but returns to the starting lineup in the running back spot against Lincoln.
For his club, Brumley thinks the key will be to give his offense — in particular his quarterback, Chris Roberts — some time.
“I think we need to go out and play our game and protect our quarterback,” he said. “(We need) to get a hat on a hat up front and see what happens from there.”
Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. in Berea.
