Of course, that’s the last thing Carrollton High School football coach Rayvan Teague is going to allow his Trojans to do this week with Alexander dropping in for Senior Night on Friday at 7:30 in the final home game of the regular season.
“I feel like football is cumulative, in affect that everything we do builds for the future. That’s what the guys have got to do. They’ve got to play well this week, eliminate mistakes and do the things that we do so we will be in position to do that the next week at Sandy Creek,” Teague said. “Being consistent and staying focused, again, is cumulative. We want to make that a habit. Not just a practice, but a true habit. So that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The No. 5 Trojans (5-2, 4-0 Region 5-AAAA) have had little trouble to this point against region opponents — outscoring them 200-38 — and the Cougars (0-7, 0-4) stumble into Grisham Stadium with a defense that is surrendering 37 points per game, including giving up 40-plus points in every region game thus far.
That’s something Teague is looking to exploit on Friday night, as his team wants to continue to polish all facets of its game in gearing up for the postseason.
“Actually, they’ve not been bad on offense. Their offense has put some points on the board against everybody they’ve gone up against. They scored 28 against LaGrange. So they’ve got a good little offensive system, but defensively they have struggled. People have been putting up 40 points on them. So we always like that matchup. We have a lot of confidence in our defense. We feel like we’re going to come up with a good plan and get after them,” Teague said.
A big selling point for this week’s game is inching closer to securing home-field advantage for the first round of the Class AAAA state playoffs. Carrollton, obviously, wants to win the region crown and earn the No. 1 seed, but it can’t win the region this week, however it could lose it should it look past the Cougars.
But Teague said if his ball club comes out focused and takes care of business, the rest will take care of itself.
“It’s Senior Night, we’ve just got to continue to improve, as we’ve tried to do all year long. We’ve got to try to continue to work to get better as we’re headed into the playoffs. So that’s what we’re trying to do,” Teague said.
Carrollton will be without the same four starters that sat out last week, along with punter Cristain Rameriz, who was injured during last week’s 45-12 homecoming victory over Shaw.
And in their final home game of the regular season, the Trojans can go a long way in ensuring it’s not their final home game of the year by dispatching of the Cougars and setting their sights on Tyrone.
Teague said it’s all about Carrollton being Carrollton this week.
“Our No. 1 defense is ball-control, so if they’re struggling stopping folks, hopefully they can’t get the ball away from us until we put points on the board. So, again, it just goes back to execution and consistency. That’s what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively,” Teague said.
“We don’t give up the big play on defense, make them have to drive on us and put long drives together. And we want long drives on offense that eats up the clock and puts points on the board. So we can’t have penalties or turnovers or missed assignments, so we can work our way down the field. Friday night [against Shaw], we had three drives of 14 plays or more that resulted in points. That’s the kind of football that we like to play.”
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