After a tough loss last week, Smackover will play their final road game of the regular season tonight when they travel to Drew Central for a 6-3A contest.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
The Bucks (3-5, 1-4) enter off of a 50-14 loss at Pine Bluff Dollarway, while the Pirates (0-8, 0-5) fell to Harmony Grove 36-20.
This is the first meeting between the schools since 2017 when the Bucks beat the Pirates 26-8.
“They do a really good job of running their offense,” said Smackover David Osborn. “They run a triple option look that you don’t see very often and you have to play sound defense to contain it. I’ve been very impressed with how the quarterback (Kade Bodiford) runs the system. He is a very hard-nosed kid who makes plays happen when it looks like he has been stopped.”
Osborn said the Pirates’ offense reminds him of the ones run at the military academies.
“They rely on option and misdirection and then hit you with a play-action pass when you fall asleep,” Osborn said.
As far as the defense is concerned, Osborn said the Pirates will give the Bucks several different looks.
“They run multiple looks,” Osborn said. “They base out of a 3-5-3 look, but will roll guys down and back and the front goes from even to odd on every play. I expect them to bring a lot of pressure and try to load the box up on us, making us throw.”
A week ago, the Bucks got off to a good start on the road, taking an 8-0 lead on Jarius Burgie’s 4-yard run coupled with Brandon Lockhart’s two-point conversion, but the Cardinals scored 24 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 30-8 halftime lead.
Smackover had a golden opportunity to cut into the Cardinals’ lead in the second quarter.
After a bad snap on a punt gave the Bucks the ball at the 10, the Cardinals forced the Bucks to go four-and-out with D’Kylan Hildreth getting stopped just short of the goal line on fourth down.
“Of course we are disappointed,” Osborn said. “We had a really good week of practice coming off the Barton win. We had probably our hottest start of the year in a game. We took the ball on the opening drive and scored, then recovered the onside kick.
“We had opportunities in the game to keep it close and have a shot, but we failed to take advantage of them. We were stopped on the one-foot line in the second quarter having a shot to make it 22-14 and get the momentum back. When that happened, it was like the wind went out of our sails.”
If the Bucks are to bounce back, Osborn said it will come down to his defense being able to slow down Drew Central’s triple option.
“We have to be ready to play and play fundamental on defense,” Osborn said. “We talk all the time about how things don’t always work out the way you want in life, be it your job, family, game, etc. It’s how you respond when things go back that tells a lot about you as a person. It’s always easy when things are rolling in your favor, it’s how you handle games and events like last week that are important.”