DEMONT GRESHAM GETS AROUND A DEFENDER On defense, he shared player-of-the-game honors with Casey Nickels. Prognosticators all over have the Tigers picked to be “easy” winners over the Red Devils of Lincoln County in this Friday’s annual clash of the arch rivals now being called the 378 War. Even our own Claude Cleats has W-W picked to win by 13 points.

Who knows? It may work out like that – but it won’t be because anybody knows what they’re talking about.

The players and coaches know. On both sides – Tigers and Red Devils – they know that rules and handicaps and statistics and logic make no difference when trying to determine the outcome of the 378 War. They know that anything can, and frequently does, happen and that any little thing can set the tone and the outcome of the game.

The level of emotion going into this game is the highest it will be this season short of maybe a championship playoff. Spirits will be high and no doubt tempers will flare at some point. After the game, both head coaches agree that it will take the teams until at least the following Tuesday to recover – whether from the excitement of winning or the disappointment of losing.

“The biggest thing we need to do is not let the emotion take us away from what we’re trying to accomplish,” Tiger Head Coach Russell Morgan said. “We’ve got to play it just like we have every ball game so far.”

Despite the Red Devils 3-4 record (their worst start in 50 years), the team is much better that some of its statistics would indicate. Much like the Tigers of last year, Lincoln County faced unusually tough competition early in the season and the inexperienced squad has taken a while to gel. However, the last four wins and especially the two most recent have elevated them No. 9 in the state coaches’ poll.

“They have a good football team,” Morgan said knowingly. “Everybody talks about how weak they are and how far down they are this year. But when I look at the film, they are about as big as they have been and they have some quickness and they have two huge tackles.”

The Tiger coach pointed out a number of players who might give Washington-Wilkes its share of trouble this year.

Brandon Barden (No. 6, junior QB/TE) “who mostly plays quarterback is a heck of an athlete.”

Darrell Norman (No. 7, junior RB) is “probably their fastest player and he can break something at any time.” Shawntavius Jennings (No. 2, senior RB) and Tyler Beale (No. 3, junior RB) at fullback “are both hard, tough runners.”

Alex Bradford (No. 27, junior WR) “seems to be good receiver. He’s not the fastest receiver we’ve seen but he makes the catches.”

Jonathan Norman (No. 52, senior lineman) and DeRon Lee (No. 74, senior lineman) are probably the two huge tackles Morgan spoke of although there are also a few others that would qualify.

“They have played with the WingT and the I formation and I fully expect to see them both,” Morgan said. “I think we’ll see everything they have in their playbook – and without a doubt there will be something special just for us. This game has been decided, so many years, on just one big play or a mistake here and there.”

Lincoln County has been faltering on offense more than usual this year but the defense has been strong, at least at times, against some pretty tough competition. They stopped AA Greene County after a first-andgoal situation and did the same to Greenbrier more than once. They even held Athens Academy from inside the five-yard-line.

But they haven’t faced a formation like the Tigers’ offense so Morgan is unsure how the Devil defense might line up this Friday.

“Defensively we expect anything from a 5-4 to a 6-2 but I know they will stack it up pretty tight on us,” he said. “They are definitely tough when you get down close. Last year they gave us two turnovers inside the 15 and we weren’t able to move it.”

Another weapon Lincoln County has is the Red Devil kicker. Vance Tarver is just a freshman but he’s capable of splitting the uprights from quite a lot farther away than any other Lincoln kicker in recent history. It’s going to be a ball game. Everybody needs to come out and be there.