Coming up just short in a six-point loss to Spring Hill, Cutter Morning Star looks to earn its first win of the season against Hermitage when the Eagles return to the field after a bye week Friday night.
Although the Eagles (0-3) fell 20-14 to Spring Hill, CMS head coach Matt Kinsinger was proud of the way his team competed in the contest. He was so enthused by the performance that he almost would have preferred if the bye week had come at a different time.
However, the week off did give his banged up players time to get back on the field at full strength. Kinsinger said his team should be fairly healthy and pretty strong roster-wise for Friday's game.
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"Any bye week is a good week, especially after you've had a couple of games," Kinsinger said. "Gives you a chance to sit down and focus on watching a little bit more film and taking some more time you don't always have during the week. ... It is a little bit detrimental because I felt like we had some momentum coming off the prior game. It would've been good to be able to kind of keep that momentum going."
Plagued by low numbers, CMS worked on extra conditioning during the bye week. With multiple players playing both ways, conditioning is extremely important for the Eagles.
"You know, there's just no replacement for a real game, you know, a live scenario and so kids do get gassed, they get tired," Kinsinger said. "It's hot early in the season, so you know we've addressed some of that, and I think the kids are starting to understand the value of it."
Over the last week in practice, Kinsinger also implemented what he calls OTIs, or opportunities to improve.
"We did a lot of focusing," Kinsinger said. "So practices were set up specifically to focus on certain areas, and that was almost like the emphasis of the day."
Looking ahead to Friday, Kinsinger emphasized the need for multiple players to make an impact on offense.
So far this season, CMS quarterback LaShawn Jones has stepped up as a leader for the Eagles and he represents a playmaker on the team's roster.
"As a coach I need to help him out, and I emphasize this to the other guys that this is not a one-man show," Kinsinger said. "We need three or four guys being able to make plays and do things so that the situation arises, it's not all on his shoulders, even though he can handle that."
Jones carried the ball 19 times for 214 yards and two touchdowns against Spring Hill. However, he only completed three passes on seven attempts for four yards.
"We worked hard on our passing game," Kinsinger said. "That was a point of emphasis one day, to really get better at passing the ball and that way we have again another option and some other threats to be able to throw out there offensively. He's starting to mold into a good leader, and kids are rallying around him, so that's been good."
CMS' opponent, Hermitage (0-3), has yet to score on the season following a 54-0 loss to Strong, a 58-0 loss to Hall and a 42-0 loss to Spring Hill.
Despite a slow start for the Hermits, Kinsinger still warned of Hermitage's talent.
"They're pretty talented all the way across the board," Kinsinger said. "You know their guys that they put on the field, they're all quality players. I mean they've got some guys in the skill positions that can hurt you with the deep ball. I believe their quarterback has been injured for a couple games, and there's probably a good chance he comes back, so that's going to add another threat on the field offensively for sure."
Kickoff from Hermitage is set for 7 p.m.