The Gosnell Pirates head to Pocahontas Friday night to take on the Redskins in another key 3-4A showdown.
The Pirates (6-0-1, 4-0 3-4A) are coming off a huge 20-12 road win at Highland last week but have just as tough, if not a tougher, job this week with the undefeated Redskins (7-0, 4-0 3-4A).
"They're really good," said Pirate head coach Gary Moody. "They're very good offensively. They have lots of formations, they have good speed."
The Redskins line up in the spread formation and are averaging 46 points a game this season. Their lowest point total was in a 33-12 win over 5A Paragould in the second week of the season. They've feasted on 3-4A opponents outscoring them 96-22 and pitching shutouts against Trumann (42-0) and Cave City (48-0). Sandwiched between those shutouts are wins of 48-14 over Harrisburg and 54-8 over Brookland.
Leading the way for Pocahontas on offense is sophomore quarterback Reece Coates. Coates is a duel threat to run or pass. He's racked up 1,271 total yards (704 passing and 567 rushing) and has completed 74 percent of his passes (47 for 63). Joining Coates on offense are Barkley Sorg and Tristan Privett who have combined for over 800 yards rushing.
"Their quarterback has good speed and they're balanced," said Moody. "They run as much as they throw and they're good at all of it. They've scored a ton of points this year. They are very impressive on film."
The Redskins are pretty good on defense as well as their two league shutouts can attest. They run a base 3-4 and Moody says that they're aggressive and like to blitz a lot.
"They've shutdown spread teams this year," he said. "Which is why it's important that we're able to line up in different formations as well."
Sophomore linebacker Sloan Rogers leads the Redskins with 66 tackles and junior Eric Wolf has nine sacks.
A week after a huge road victory, the Pirates know that this week they must be just as focused with just three games remaining and a conference title possibly being on the line.
"These players understand how important this game is and they're focused," said Moody. "They know that a win this week and we can be in the driver's seat in the conference. For the second week in a row, we're seeing one of the top offenses in the state. Our defense has been playing great and we need to continue what we've been doing."
While Moody expected the front seven of his defense to be solid this year, the tremendous play from his secondary has been a welcome addition but it wasn't unexpected.
"It began with the first week of the season at Harding," said Moody. "Our guys in the secondary played well and that gave them confidence and it gave us confidence in them as well."
On the injury front, Moody said his team is as healthy as they've been since week one. Only Braxton Cross remains questionable.
"Last week was the first week that we played just about an entire game with our first group of guys," said Moody. "It was great to see that and to see them play well together. This week, just like last week, we're going to have to just do our responsibilities. Don't get out of position and we're going to have to have a good night offensively."
Friday night's game is once again the Hooten's Magazine Game of the Week in the 4A division. The Pirates are ranked No.9 by the magazine while the Redskins are No.7 Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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