Adairsville’s Kaylon Carter (20) looks for open ground while being pursued by Pepperell’s Ben Davenport (24) in their Oct. 15 game. The Tigers host Model at Armuchee Middle’s Chamlee Field tonight. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
SKIP BUTLER/The Daily Tribune News
The Tigers (3-4, 1-2 in Region 7A-AA) were beaten over the weekend by region power Pepperell, 47-26, and hope to close out their last two games with wins. Tonight's game is being played at Adairsville Middle's Chamlee Field.
"Our destiny is not under our control now," Tiger head coach Jim Kremer said. "We need to win our last two games and then see where we are at."
To do that, he said, the Tigers must first focus on tonight's opponent.
The Blue Devils (2-5, 0-3 in Region 7A-AA) are coming off a beat down against Armuchee and a rough few weeks. The Blue Devils were shut out 41-0 by their cross-town rivals last Friday night and fell 41-14 to Rockmart and 35-13 to Coosa, in their two previous games.
New Model head coach Lynn Hunnicutt will have his team focused on playing with more consistency.
Hunnicutt, a frequent visitor to the state playoffs in his days as the Pepperell Dragons' mentor, has returned to the coaching sidelines to help resurrect the Blue Devils' football program.
This season has been an uphill battle for Model and Hunnicutt would like nothing better than to give the Blue Devils a boost with a victory over Adairsville.
The Tigers are looking to snag a win against Model while continuing to improve so they can win a fight against Rockmart the following week.
The Tigers presently are in a fourth-place tie in the region with Coosa and trail Rockmart, Armuchee and Pepperell in the standings.
Statistically, the Tigers have an edge offensively and defensively, averaging scoring 24 points and also giving up 24 points a game. The Blue Devils average scoring 19 points and surrendering 31 points per game.
Adairsville got a boost last weekend with the return to production of Bradford Austin.
The featured running back for the Tigers scored two touchdowns and ran for 150 yards against the Dragons.
His performance let quarterback Cody Kremer settle into more of a game manager role.
While the Tigers are giving up more points than Tiger coaches want, it has been padded significantly by playing some of the region's most explosive teams and several strong non-region opponents.
Coach Kremer said although the Tigers gave up 47 points against the Dragons, he may have contributed.
"I think some of the things I asked of them, they weren't physically able to do," he said. "We probably should have played more base defense.
"We probably tried too hard. If we'd just stuck with things we believed in, we'd probably have been OK. You can overcoach sometimes.
Kremer said the Tigers stayed with the Dragons as long as they could.
"We answered their scores three times but we got to the point where we just couldn't stop them," he added.
The coach said the Tigers need some answers.
"We have to figure out how to win," he said.
He said at least part of the answer lies in more effort. "We have to play for four quarters."
He said the Tigers are still doing good things.
"Anytime your kids are coming to practice and working hard and you see kids are doing well in their classes," he said, "you have to feel good about that."
He added the Tigers still have things they can accomplish on the gridiron.
"We have two big ball games left and that will determine how we do in our play-in game," he said. "We still have a lot of football left -- that's what I told the kids and I think they'll respond to it."
Game time is at 7:30 p.m.