PROSPERITY — Coming off a tough loss for the second week in a row, Mid-Carolina head coach Louie Alexander said his team is in great need of a spark tonight against Batesburg-Leesville.
“I think our confidence level, honestly, is not very good,” he said.
Last week the Rebels traveled to Saluda where they fell to the Tigers 42-7.
“We played with no emotion whatsoever,” Alexander said.
He cited inexperience as still being a factor early in the season and he’s looking for people to step up and make plays for the team.
“Execution and emotion take care of a lot of the confidence factor,” he said.
Compounding matters is the fact that several key players are still on the disabled list including RB/CB Terrell Long and WR/CB Jalen Bates-Caldwell.
On a brighter note Jaterran Wise, who was out last week, is expected to return to the gridiron Friday night.
Alexander said practice has been good this week and he’s been stressing to his players to not be discouraged — that their season was intentionally scheduled to be tough to bring up their level of play.
“If it doesn’t destroy our confidence, it’s going to be a good thing for us and we can’t allow that to happen,” he said.
Alexander said the Batesburg-Leesville team they will be facing this week boast a “dynamic” quarterback and an “explosive” running back.
He said this iteration of Panthers may not be as big as ones the Rebels have faced before, but they play hard.
“They tackle well and they fly to the ball,” he said.
Alexander said his team will fare well if they can find the same emotion they harnessed in the season opener against Chapin.
The Rebels are at home again next week to take on Ninety Six.