Alexandria (1-1, 1-0) at Hokes Bluff (0-2, 0-1)
Last week: Jacksonville 30, Hokes Bluff 7; Alexandria 45, Cherokee Co. 22
Last meeting: 2009 – Alexandria 21, Hokes Bluff 14
Series record: Alexandria 14, Hokes Bluff 4
By Gene Stanley/Messenger Sports Correspondent
Which Alexandria team will show up at Hokes Bluff?
The one which struggled in every phase of the game in a Week 1 loss to Etowah, or the squad that beat Cherokee County by 23 points this past week?
Hokes Bluff coach Mike Robertson is fearful that his team will see the better side of the Valley Cubs.
“They got a lot better in one week,” he said. “We’ll have to play our best game to have a chance to win.”
Winning hasn’t been easy for the Eagles thus far, but Robertson isn’t all gloom and doom.
“We’ve been 0-2 before but not 0-2 with Alexandria next,” Robertson said. “But we feel like we always have a chance to win. We’ve just got to keep improving and eliminating mistakes.”
There have been some good signs but they have been negated by missteps. Hokes Bluff had four turnovers in the loss to Jacksonville last week.
“You can’t win against anybody with that many turnovers,” Robertson said. “In the first half, we had a good drive going, then we fumbled. They went down and scored. When they kicked it off to us, we had a good runback but we fumbled again.”
The Golden Eagles were ahead 20-0 at the end of the first quarter because of those miscues.
“After the first quarter, we played well,” Robertson said.
Hokes Bluff ran out of time at the half, missing a field goal on a drive that might’ve scored if the clock hadn’t run out.
Alexandria found a running game last week, with Justice Owens gaining over 200 yards.
“He’s tough to defend,” Robertson said. “But we can’t concentrate on that. We’ve got to work on getting better.
“The good thing is that this group of seniors is really good. I think they’ll have good spirit if we finish 8-2 or if we go 0-10.”
Against the Valley Cubs, Braydon Hawk rushed 12 times for 47 yards, while Chase Beggs gained 36 yard on six carries.
Brad Robertson completed 7-of-14 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown.
Charlie Reed had three catches, while Jake Ingram had two.
Jake Ponder led in tackles with 11, followed by Dylan McKee, Chase Pope and Noah Click with 10 each and Stephen McDonald with nine.