DUBLIN — West Bladen will have two opponents on Friday — one which has been on the Dublin campus all week and the other which will arrive Friday evening.
“It’s Homecoming Week, so we’ve been trying to keep everyone focused,” Knights coach Kris Williams said. “There’s a long of distractions to deal with.”
On Friday, the Vikings will invade The Castle for a Three Rivers Conference tilt, and the last time West Columbus rolled into Bladen County, they brought just 16 players and were pasted with a 48-0 loss to East Bladen.
“It looks like they’re suffering from a lack of numbers and a lot of kids are playing both ways,” Williams said, “but I also think they are better than their record indicates.”
The Vikings, now 0-7 overall and 0-5 in the conference, have a scored a conference-worst 34 points and given up a conference-worst 320 points. Conversely, the 3-4 and 1-4 Knights have scored 176 points and allowed 191.
But West Columbus, according to Williams, has some bright spots.
“The quarterback obviously looks like the best athlete,” he said.
Quarterback Kwashawn Tyson leads the Vikings’ offense, which operates in a mix of Wing-T, option and other variations. Running backs Nigel Ceesay and Za’quis Leach also carry the ball.
On defense, Ceesay leads West Columbus’ variety of 44 and 53 defensive sets.
“We saw a lot of different variations on defense,” Williams said. “I’m sure we’re going to see a lot of 44. We’ll be prepared for anything.”
He added that the Knights have been working on cutting down on turnovers and penalties, as well as executing on both sides of the ball.
“Just another usual week of practice, though we’ve had to dodge some raindrops,” he said.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Friday.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-862-4163 or cvincent@bladenjournal.com.