By THOMAS P. WEAVER

HORIZON Editor

SPARTA-After a well-deserved week off, the Clay County Bulldog football team will return to action here at White County High School Thursday night.

“We definitely needed it to rest up some injuries and hopefully get healthy,” head coach Jake Johnson said of the bye week.  “These kids have been at it since July full force and it’s good to give them a week off, kinda refresh, and get ready for this last leg of the season.”

After getting away from the game for nine days following their 45-0 blowout of Pickett County on October 4, the 6-1 Dawgs have a short week of preparation for the up-and-coming Class 5A Warriors—a team that is currently a respectable 4-3 after going winless the past two seasons and one that gained even more confidence with a good showing against the 8-0 Livingston Academy Wildcats last Friday night.

“They are a much-improved team and coach (Mark) Frasier has them moving in the right direction,” Johnson said.  “They gave Livingston all they wanted over the weekend and that was a great game in itself.

“It’s not going to be easy at all, but we are excited for the opportunity.  I get excited about tough battles, the struggles, because that’s when you really see what these kids are made of and how they’ve progressed as far as the season goes and how they develop into young men.”

When it comes to having less time to prepare, Johnson said “you definitely have to tweak” the practice schedule and explained “it’s gotta be accelerated.”

“Monday is normally a slower-paced day, but we don’t have that luxury, so this week it is a full-fledged practice,” he said.  “I think overall it’s a good test for our guys.

“Iron sharpens iron.  I believe in that and I think if we follow that similar recipe we’ve followed all year long it will be a pretty good game.  We will just have to see how our kids respond.”

The coach explained size was the biggest difference in playing a larger school like White County, but he said his team was used to it.

“We are no stranger to size,” Johnson said.  “It feels like everybody we play has been big and if you look at our schedule, outside of region opponents, we’ve played up every single game and we’ve faired pretty well this year.”

The Dawgs are hoping to use their battle with the Warriors as a tune up for the following week’s showdown on the mountain with Monterey, where is region title is expected to be on the line, but Johnson said his team is focused on White County.

“We completely shut that out and just focus week to week,” he said of the looming conference clash.  “Every game is important and you want to win them all, so this week is about White County.

“We will worry about the rest as they come.”

Game time in Sparta is at 7 p.m. Thursday and Horizon Sports Network coverage begins at 6 p.m. with the Carquest Pregame Show online at dalehollowhorizon.com.