SIBLEY – It’s been a busy week on the practice field for the Lakeside Warriors ahead of their week three showdown with the Grambling High School Kittens.
So far, the Warriors are 0-2, with losses to Ringgold and Plain Dealing. An encouraging sign for the Warriors is the difference from week one to week two. Lakeside held Plain Dealing to 32 points a week ago, with two touchdowns coming as a result of Lakeside turnovers.
Head coach Joey Pesses has been preaching discipline this week at practice, well-aware that the Warriors are improving, with a good chance to pick up their first win Friday.
“The kids have been very attentive at practice,” Pesses said. “Everyone is still busting their tail to get ready for Grambling and a completely different style of offense than we faced last week. We’ve had to switch gears in our preparation, but we’ve had a couple great days of practice.”
Plain Dealing employed an aerial attack against the Warriors in last week’s game. This week Lakeside’s defense will go up against the Wing-T, and Pesses said the Grambling runs the offense effectively.
“Last week they were looking to throw the ball,” Pesses said. “This week’s opponent’s offense is based off deception. They want to get you caught up in the backfield and get you going the wrong way. They’re going to run the ball about 90 percent of the time. We have to stick to our keys, they’ll take us where we need to be.”
The Kittens will put an athletic defense on the field to counter Lakeside’s rushing attack on offense.
“We have to be disciplined,” Pesses said. “We have to chip away on the ground and make sure we capitolize at the end. We can’t self-destruct once we cross the 50-yard line like last week. We’re going to rotate Chris Brantley and Josh Prince in and try to wear them down.”
Pesses added the Warriors are a little banged up as a result of last week’s game, saying some players are being forced into new roles this week due to injury.
The Warriors and Kittens will kick things off from Grambling at 7 p.m. on Friday.