Lamar County and Pike County face off in the annual Battle of Potato Creek Friday night. The Trojans are 5-0 for the season while the Pirates are 4-1. Their only loss came to First Presbyterian Day in a non-region contest. Both squads are 3-0 in Region 4AA. The Trojans are averaging 40.4 points per game (5th in the state) while giving up 16.6 points per game. When and Where: Friday 7:30 p.m. at Pirate Field in Zebulon. To Get There: Take Highway 18 West to downtown Zebulon. At the second traffic light on the square, turn left and take Highway 19 West approximately two miles. The school and field are on the left. Weather: Mostly clear and breezy with no chance of precipitation. The temperature will be in the mid 60’s at kick-off. WARNING: A category 5-0 Blue Thunderstorm is expected to hit hard and continue throughout the game. What’s at stake: The winner sits alone at the top of the region, earns bragging rights for the next year and the navy and red Battle of the Creek jersey. Last week: Pike County beat Monticello 26-14. Lamar County beat Putnam County 27-20. Series: Lamar County leads all-time 20-7 dating back to 1976 when the Trojans won 35-0 in Zebulon. The Pirates last win was a 22-15 thriller in the final game played at Summers Field Memorial Stadium in 2008. Lamar won last year’s contest 20-17 at Trojan Field. Pirate defense: 4-4 front yielding 10.6 points per game (10th in the state). Pirate offense: Pistol formation scoring 29.8 points per game. Top players: #7 Jonathan Norton, #14 Deandre Holmes, #33 Tony Anthony, #34 Jess Devoursney, $51 Tyler Garrett and #54 Tanner Strickland. Pirate coach: Brad Webber, 1st year (4-1). Prediction: Maxwell ratings has the the Trojans an 8 point favorite. Injury report: Quarterback Maurice Bloodser twisted his ankle punting and nose tackle Frederick Walker banged up his knee but both practiced this week and should be fine to play Friday. End Tyler Carter, who played last week for the first time in two gamess against after tearing his labrum, showed no ill effects playing with a special brace and made four tackles against Putnam. CORRECTION: It was erroneously reported that Pike County sold tickets to prevent Trojan fans from having seats. According to Pike County High School officials, tickets were sold starting at 11 a.m. Friday and only to students. Tickets will be available at the gate tonight. What Lamar Head Coach Jason Strickland says: “They base out of the pistol formation offensively, with lots of motion and shifting. They have always given people problems getting lined-up, and we have struggled in the past some with the same issues against them. So getting lined-up, then making the correct adjustments to the shifts will be the key for our defense. Defensively they base out of the 4-4 similar to what we saw against Putnam. We don’t think they are quite as fast as Putnam, but they are much bigger. They are certainly going to make you work for anything you get. They are always solid in the special teams game and that is no different this year. This is probably the biggest game between these two schools in a long time. Whoever wins is in sole possession of first place in the region, and basically will have a two game lead over everyone else. We don’t ever want to lose to those guys, but you add the region race in it and it just becomes bigger. I know they are going to have a huge crowd. We are already hearing about how many tickets they have sold, so we need to make sure we have plenty of support there as well. The Battle of the Creek is always exciting and I am sure this will be no different’.
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