For the second straight week, Gosnell faces a winless, run-oriented team in conference play on the road Friday night.
But even with Trumann's record and defending conference champion Highland looming next week, don't expect the Pirates (4-1, 2-0) to overlook the Wildcats (0-5, 0-2), especially considering how tough Cave City (0-5, 0-2) played them last week. A successful onside kick to start the game swung the momentum in Cave City's favor and the Cavemen scored on a long drive.
Utilizing Gosnell's former offense -- the old Jim Stanley double-wing -- Cave City played keep away, holding the ball for more than 21 minutes of the 24-minute first half. Fortunately for the Pirates, they answered with a long kickoff return touchdown from Colton Godsey, then later had a long touchdown run by Marcus Mullins to lead 12-6 at halftime, before going on to win 27-6 and staying tied atop the league standings.
"Our kids really practiced well last week, did all the things we want to do Monday through Thursday in preparing for an opponent," Gosnell head coach Gary Moody said. "But we really had a tough time against a team that was winless last week. I don't think there is any fear of our players overlooking Trumann. I think they want to go out and play a complete ball game this week."
He noted at times against the Cavemen, the Pirates had some good plays at all positions.
"We just didn't play a whole game at the level I want us to play at and I don't believe that our team wants to play at," Moody said. "We made a lot of penalties and we hadn't done that the last couple of weeks. We were real hit-and-miss offensively and just never really got into a rhythm.
"Luckily, we were able to execute some big plays, complete some big passes. We had a tremendous touchdown run on the kickoff after Cave City's first score by Colton Godsey and we had some guys throw some great blocks to help him on that. Then in the second quarter, Marcus Mullins broke a big run for us to give us a 12-6 halftime lead. There were some bright spots and some things our guys did very well. We've got to really focus on taking care of things each and every play."
The defense that had played so well the previous weeks struggled getting off the field against the Cavemen for three quarters. The Pirates will try to correct that against the Wildcats.
"We've just got to get back to playing hard football, every player doing his job and just really be focused on playing a great ball game Friday night," Moody said.
For the second straight week, Gosnell's defense will face the double-wing offense. Moody said the biggest difference is Trumann runs the ball outside more with sweeps and has a little more speed. The Wildcats and Cavemen are similar in the core offense, however, he said.
"If we want to continue on our path towards the playoffs, we've got to do a better job of not letting a momentum shift in a ball game affect us negatively and I think that happened to us last week," Moody said. "I think because we weren't able to stop them early, we lost a little bit of confidence and maybe even a little focus. Then when we did get the ball, we didn't play well offensively. We've worked hard to correct some of those things and our guys have done a really good job throughout the season. They've played in some big ball games and so I really expect them to come out Friday night and to be fired up and ready to play a great game."
Gosnell enters the game healthy and the players look forward to getting back on the field, Moody said.
"We're happy to be 4-1 right now," he said. "Even though we didn't play as well as we would like to at times, we still did what we had to do to win a conference game last week."
"Our kids want to be a good team and they've done a good job in practice this week getting ready to play Trumann."
He said Friday's game at Trumann is another really important conference game.
With a win, Gosnell would be just one of two conference unbeatens because Highland (5-0, 2-0) and Valley View (5-0, 2-0) play each other Friday night.
Highland visits Gosnell the following week and Valley View comes to town in Week 10.
"I think this is a conference race that could go down to the last few weeks," Moody said. "So we've just got to continue to prepare and just worry about Trumann right now and be focused on playing a great game at their place and doing our very best in all aspects of the game."
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Trumann High School.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com