Parkland hopes to finish season strong against Davie County
The Mustang player attempts to locate the ball as Parkland practices recovering onside kicks.
Photo by Timothy Ramsey
BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY
THE CHRONICLE
The Parkland Mustangs are sitting on a record of 4-5 so far this season. They will face off against the War Eagles of Davie County tonight in an attempt to end the season with a .500 record. Davie County holds a record of 2-6 and look to salvage their season with a win.
The Mustangs are hoping to bounce back from a devastating defeat last week against North Davidson by the score of 42-6. Parkland head coach Brendan Atwater said North Davidson came out and played sound football against his team. He said the North Davidson running backs ran hard and his linebackers were not prepared for them.
Davie County took on area juggernaut Mt. Tabor last week. They were soundly defeated 52-7 in the contest. Besides last week’s loss to the Spartans and a loss ear-lier this season to Dudley of Greensboro, the War Eagles have been competitive in their games. They have just not had enough in the end to get over the hump.
Coach Atwater lost his star running back, Zyheir Dillard, a few weeks ago against Mt. Tabor with a broken leg. He says he still wants to use the running game as the staple of his offense.
“We want to hit the ground running and air the ball out at times,” said Atwater. “Our quarterback definitely has the talent to throw but he has his weaknesses at times.”
Defensively, Atwater says he needs his front seven to play well in order for his defense to work effectively.
“How I look at it is, if our lineman and linebackers roll out of the right side of the bed, I could see a good game. As far as stopping them, we are going to send our boys. We are going to blitz them and hopefully we can catch them in the backfield before they get going,” Atwater said of his strategy against Davie County.
Atwater went on to say that in this last game of the year against the War Eagles, if his team leaves everything they have on the field, he will be happy. He says his team has energy during the week but when it comes to game day, they seem somewhat flat.
Atwater thinks that some of his players have become dejected with how the season has gone thus far as they had higher expectations for the year. He says he strives every day to keep his kids motivated and hopes it all manifests on the field this evening.
