The Aplington-Parkersburg football team will host Sumner-Fredericksburg in Friday’s regular season finale, with a chance to improve their playoff positioning.
The Falcons (2-5, 2-2 1A-3) have clinched a playoff appearance. The scenario is simple: the winner of the game will be the district’s 3-seed, and the loser will be the 4-seed. Interim coach Aaron Thomas says the team knows what’s at stake, and hopes to have a positive finish to Senior Night.
“Our guys are aware of it, not only that, but with Senior Night, you want to send your seniors out with a win and they could win three in a row at home,” Thomas says. “So those are the things we’ve talked about. Our guys know you’re better off playing a 2 versus 1. Our guys are aware of those things. They’ve worked hard. It’s just a matter of we’ve got to come out and be competitive early, not shoot ourselves in the foot and make mistakes.”
The Falcons will look for a quicker start after surrendering 30 points in the first quarter at #2 (1A) Dike-New Hartford last week.
Sumner-Fredericksburg (4-3, 2-2 1A-3) has won two straight games over Central Springs and Denver, where their offense combined for 109 points. They offer a run-heavy offense, where the quarterback accounts for nearly half of the yards. Thomas on the matchup.
“We’ve got to be able to move the ball, we’re going to have to score some points without a doubt. And then sure up our special teams from last week, we just had some mistakes. We only ran three offensive plays, we were down 23-0. And then there were some fluke things that we haven’t had all year, but just all the way around, whether it’s defensively, not making the mistakes and make sure we tackle, to offensively, not turning the ball over, getting first downs. And then we’ve got to convert and execute our special teams. It’s going to take all three phases of the game that we’ve just got to be sharp and crisp.”
The kickoff will be at 7:00 p.m. at Ed Thomas Field.
Aaron Thomas interview:
