By Ryan Davenport, WSON Sports Correspondent
The Henderson County Colonels put it to the competition last week as they took down the previously undefeated Central Hardin Bruins 38-22 at Colonel Stadium.
This week the (3-1) Colonels face another big road test.
Henderson County Colonel Head Football Coach Josh Boston talks about tonight’s matchup against Paducah Tilghman and what kind of team the Blue Tornado is on offense this season. Boston says, “(They’re a) Very, very talented football team. Last week Vs. South Warren, Paducah didn’t have the outing they wanted. I talked to South Warren coach Brandon Smith afterwards who says talentwise (Tilghman) is a better football team than South Warren, they just made more mistakes against us. Paducah threw three interceptions, one of them went back for a touchdown and Tilghman just made mistakes that cost them the game and got them behind early. Boston adds, “Tilghman’s one of those teams that they’ve got the guys at any point in time they can get behind you, (they’ve) got a great quarterback and they’re going to take shots down the field. (Paducah’s) running back is very, very talented. He’s got great center of balance and he doesn’t go down with an arm tackle, he doesn’t go down with just a hit. You’ve got to do a good job of wrapping him up and you’ve got to get multiple guys to the football. He runs so low, and his hips move so well, you know one guy isn’t going to bring him down easily.”
When asked about the Blue Tornado’s defensive sets, Coach Boston said the Blue Tornado use their athletic ability to fight off their opponents. “They cater to their athletic ability. Most defenses you can say, “Oh, they’re a 4-2, a 3-4, or a 4-3 and they’re not. (Instead) they are more of 3-4 personnel, and they move their guys around to a line and matchups. They align a lot of ways you would see in 7 on 7s. They’ll walk a linebacker out of the box to cover a number 3 receiver like you would in a 7 on 7. They use their athletic ability and instead of being that hard nose, in the discipline you know we’re going to be a 4-2, we’re going to be a 3-4 and follow our rules where they’re not. You know it’s more of a NFL type scheme where you’ll see a linebacker walk out of the box, you’ll see a DB come down in the box. They do a great job of moving guys around and chasing the football from the positions that they’re in.”
Coach Boston was asked in what ways the Colonels might have the advantage against the Blue Tornado in tonight’s game. Coach Boston talked about his running backs and the advantage they have against their opponent’s defense, “Upfront maybe a little bit. You know our run game, the way that we’re sound in our run game, doing things that if Paducah trys to start leaving the box with linebackers and things like that it is going to cause some problems and Paducah will definitely have to honor the box a little bit more then they have in games past.
“Defensively, I feel like that right now our guys are playing the game the right way, we’re playing fast, we’re playing physical and we’re going to be able to cause them some problems in the backfield and they’re going to have to get the ball out of their hands with our guys up front a little quicker than maybe they’re used to” Boston added.
When asked the keys to beating the Blue Tornado on the road in Paducah, Coach Boston says, “We’ve got to come out and play fast early. You’ve got to come ready to go from the get-go and make sure we step out front, hit them in the mouth quick, get out in front of them and don’t let them continue to be able to take shots down the field. We’ve got to make sure we are disciplined in our secondary and we’re fast up front.”
The Colonels are ranked 8th in this week’s AP Kentucky High School Football Class 6A rankings while the Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornado are ranked 4th in this week’s Class 4A rankings.
Kickoff for tonight’s game against the (2-2) Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornado is at 7:00 PM in Paducah.
WSON AM/FM will have complete coverage beginning with the pre-game at 6:00 PM. Tonight’s broadcast is presented by Foreman, Watson, Holtrey Injury Law.
We’ll also have live updates on the WSON Radio Facebook and Twitter pages.
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