They may be thin in numbers and small in size compared with the teams they are lining up against each week, but Woodland's players have played with a lot of heart this season.

Steve Hamilton said that same type of performance tonight -- coupled with a few breaks -- could help the Wildcats (1-7 overall and in 7-AAAA) double their win total on the season when they visit the Creekview Grizzlies.

The Woodland head coach said he expects Creekview to give its maximum effort as it tries to close out the year on a winning note.

"They're having some tough times and will get their bye next week," Hamilton noted.

He said that's a lot of consecutive weeks of football for a high school team to play and it appears to have worn on the Grizzlies. Now is their chance to put that behind them and close out their season on a positive note.

The Grizzlies (3-6 overall and in 7-AAAA) also will be observing senior night as well.

"I expect a good effort by Creekview because of their seniors," Hamilton said. "They are going to get fired up for us."

That means the Wildcats should be challenged at the line frequently with a good running attack, and there will be something very familiar about the formations the Grizzlies present.

"They're another Wing-T team," Hamilton said. "It will be very similar to playing Lambert, Central Forsyth and most of the other teams in our region. It'll be a game where we see a lot of running."

The Woodland coach said the Wildcats will have to play with a lot of effort and try to match the intensity of their opponent.

The Grizzlies could easily be sitting at .500 on the season because of the closeness of several of its games.

Last week they fell 21-20 to Forsyth Central. They lost 13-10 to Johns Creek and 17-13 to Sequoyah.

That's three games where a single extra touchdown would have given them wins.

Woodland defeated Forsyth Central 36-35 and fell 55-44 to Johns Creek. It is scheduled to play Sequoyah next weekend.

Creekview is scoring an average of 18 points a game while giving up 21 points per contest.

The Wildcats put up an average of 20 points per game while giving up 40 points each outing.

Woodland is fresh off a 28-18 loss to Northwest Whitfield, a team defeated 18-0 early in the season by Creekview.

Hamilton said Woodland concentrated on what it does in preparing for the game.

"We just hope we play well," Hamilton said. "That's all we can control."

He added a few breaks in the game going Woodland's way would be nice.

"We've played well but sometimes the breaks have just gone the other way," the coach said.

He said the Wildcats remain dinged up a little but some more Woodland players will be back to help against the Grizzlies.

"Some guys are playing hurt but they have just another week to go and they can go and get healthy," he said.

The Wildcats are being pointed toward finishing the season on a winning run.

"It would be nice to get a win and, hopefully, end the season with two in a row," Hamilton said.

If the Wildcats play with a lot of effort, he said, the two teams should match up about evenly.

"I expect a good, close game that comes down to the fourth quarter," he said.

Game time is at 7:30 p.m.