By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



The Fultondale Wildcats have already faced three teams which reached the postseason in 2007, but this week’s match up with Good Hope could present the biggest challenge so far.

“They’re a hard-nosed team like Addison, but they have more size and they’ve got some thick kids, who you can tell have been in the weight room for a few years,” Fultondale head coach Keith Register said. “We’ll have a pretty tough battle to face this week.”

The Raiders, a 3A club, feature 27 different formations on offense, designed to confuse the opposing defense, but the multiple sets conceal a simple attack featuring about seven base plays.

“We’ll go over their most important sets, but the main thing is they run seven plays really well. Those are the plays we’ve got to stop,” Register said. “We look at the rest of their sets on Thursday. Hopefully we’ll line up right on defense Friday night and run to the ball well.”

The Raiders (2-2) have lost to West Point (3-1) in 4A and Hamilton (4-0) and are closing in on a playoff spot.

On defense, Good Hope has played well since dropping their first two games of the year. The Raiders feature the 50 defense, which they execute well due in large part to outstanding play backing up the defensive line.

“They’ve got very good linebackers,” Register pointed out. “They run down hill to the ball and when they get to the ball carrier, they really hit.”

The Wildcats have played well for the past two weeks, after being upset in the season’s second week by Isabella.

Register said his club didn’t give the type of effort in the Isabella game they needed to win. A similar effort this Friday would surely spell doom for Fultondale.

“I don’t see either team winning this game by a big margin,” he added. “It should come down to the fourth quarter and it may come down to whoever has the ball last. The only way they’ll be a big margin in the final score is if we play like we did against Isabella, then Good Hope will win big.”

Register said the Raiders are the most talented team Fultondale has played to date. He stated his club would likely have to play their best game of the year to win.

“This should be a good hard-nosed game if we show up and play well,” he said.