Sumter travels to Stratford today
Thursday, September 04, 2008
By TREVOR ZION BAUKNIGHT
Item Sports Writer
TBauknight@theitem.com
The Sumter High School varsity football team travels to take on Stratford tonight in a game moved up a day because of the threat of inclement weather associated with Tropical Storm Hanna. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Sumter head coach Paul Sorrells, whose team is 1-0 after posting a 48-32 win over cross-county rival Crestwood last week in its opener, said moving the game up wouldn't make much of a difference.
"We're going to go on with our Wednesday practice like we usually do," Sorrells said on Wednesday. "About all that means is that Thursday, we'll have about a 45-minute walkthrough in just shirts and shorts, go through special teams and things. We'll get most of that done today.
"A lot of teams play on Thursday anyway, teams that share stadiums or something like that," he added. "It's a whole lot better to play (tonight), because if we don't, the scenario would probably be that we play Monday, and if you play Monday, you've got to turn right around and play again on Friday. That's what we don't want."
Stratford is smarting after a 21-19 overtime loss to Orangeburg-Wilkinson in its opener last week. Sorrells said that he wasn't especially happy about that.
"Stratford is a very well-coached football team," Sorrells said. "(Stratford head) coach Ray Stackley and his crew do a great job. They lost the other night, and maybe they don't have the team that they've had in the past, but I still would have picked them to win over Orangeburg. They lost in overtime, and a lot of times you don't want to play somebody when they're on the rebound like that.
"We've just got to go make sure that we play sound defense, that we execute on offense and worry about ourselves more than Stratford," he added. "We know they're well-coached, and when you get a game plan against Stratford, you know that they're going to be sound and that they're pretty much going to do the kinds of things that they're supposed to be doing. You sort of know what to plan for, and you've just got to beat them. Beat them physically."
The Gamecocks were able to power past a game Crestwood squad last week in their opener, grabbing an early lead and then keeping the offensive pressure on to the end. Quarterback Stephen Curtis connected with wide receiver Travis Fredimon for three touchdown passes, including scoring strikes of 51 and 60 yards, that kept the Knights at arm's length.
"We've got a pretty good quarterback, and we've got some good receivers," Sorrells said. "The key there will always be if we can protect them, and if our offensive line will protect, I think we can complete passes on anybody as long as we've got time to throw it."
Running back Roderick McDowell's first 22 carries netted him 98 yards, but his 23rd pushed his total on the night to 170 when he broke free for a 72-yard TD run that put the game away.
"That's the thing about Roderick," Sorrells said. "You keep giving it to him, and sooner or later, he's going to break one. It's hard to bottle him up all night long."
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Sumter travels to Stratford today
