By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



On Sept. 28, the Corner Yellow Jackets used a big second half comeback against Cleveland to record their first win of the season, Last week, they lead Dora early, but let the lead slip away after halftime, as they lost a tough region battle to the Bulldogs. But playing one good half isn’t good enough according to Corner head football coach Jeff Smith.

“We need to play 48 minutes of football for once this season,” Smith said. “We’ve played good for a half in several of our games, but we’ve haven’t put two good halves together yet.”

This week, the Jackets will need two good halves against a potent air attack when they travel to meet the Fairview Aggies.

The Aggies feature sophomore quarterback Trett Hardman. The signal caller fired seven touchdown passes for Fairview on Sept. 28, in a 47-15 win over Holly Pond.

“They’ve got an outstanding quarterback, and they like to line up four receivers for him to throw to,” Smith said of the Aggies offense.

Smith said not only would the Yellow Jackets secondary need to play well this week, but the Corner front seven will also need to have a good game rushing the passer.

“We need to put lots of pressure on Hardman this week and make him thrown under duress,” Smith said. “If we make him throw before he wants to, that will help out our coverage.”

Smith said the Aggie defense is not as big as some of the defenses that Corner has faced this season, but he fully expects the Fairview defenders to test the Yellow Jackets offense.

“They play with lots of heart and emotion. They run to the ball well,” Smith said. “We need to be ready and play as hard as they do.”

Last week, the Yellow Jackets suffered five interceptions against Dora, and Smith is hoping to prevent turnovers in the air attack from happening again.

“We need to establish the run early and then work in some passing later in the game off that,” he said. “We’ve proven that we’re a good running team at times this season, but we need to be a good running team the entire game this Friday.”

Corner is looking for their first region win in five starts.