Coosa Christian (0-4) at Gaylesville (0-4)
Series record: Coosa Chr. 4, Gaylesville 4
Last meeting: 2009 – Coosa Chr. 34, Gaylesville 14
Last week: Spring Garden 35, Coosa Chr. 0; Valley Head 28, Gaylesville 27
By Gene Stanley/Messenger Sports Correspondent
When Coosa Christian learns to finish drives, a few wins could be the end result.
Last week, the Conquerors turned the ball over on downs in red zone, twice in the first half and twice more in the second half.
“I told the team that we’re liable to set a school record for yardage, but make one the other way in points scored,” Coosa coach Van Owens said. “We’ve got to limit our mistakes.”
Gaylesville coach Brian Clowdis said basically the same about his team.
“Whichever team makes the fewest mistakes should win this game,” he said. “They’re a lot like us in a lot of ways.”
Last week, only a missed two-point try on what would have been the tying touchdown and a missed field goal at the very end kept Gaylesville from experiencing its first victory of the season.
The Trojans are also suffering the red zone blues.
“We can drive the ball from the 20 to the 20,” Clowdis said. “Then we self implode. I told the guys this week that the goal line is about 20 yards farther than we’ve been taking it.”
Both teams have made critical mistakes at critical times, hence the 0-8 combined record.
The two teams are tied with Woodville for fourth place in Class 1A, Region 7, but the Conquerors have four region losses to the Trojans’s three and Woodville’s two.
Another common problem among these teams is low numbers.
“We don’t have enough to scrimmage during the week,” Owens said. “We basically treat games like scrimmages and try to fix our problems as the game goes on.”
Last week against Spring Garden, Austin Mills rushed for 94 yards on 19 carries, while Ben Mills ran 20 times for 89 yards.
Ben Mills completed 6-of-16 passes for 45 yards.
Brandon Phillips had three receptions for 19 yards.
Austin Mills and Ben Mills finished with 11 and seven tackles, respectively.