MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — If the old adage “practice makes perfect” is true, then the Clay-Battelle High football team should have a leg up on its opponent Friday.
The Cee-Bees (1-1) enter Week 4 coming off a bye week that allowed the team an extra week’s rest, but perhaps more importantly an extra week of practice. That time, according to C-B senior Levi Carrico, was mostly spent polishing the team’s defense.
On Friday, it will have the chance to shine as the Cee-Bees host Valley (Wetzel) at 7 p.m.
“We worked on defense a lot these past two weeks. We have the basics down, but we’ve really been hammering them home and trying to make sure they’re perfect for the game,” Carrico said. “I think we’re going to be able to guard what they have really well and handle what they run against us.
“We need to make tackles at the line of scrimmage and not let them have any big plays. One of our big things this year is not to let any team make big plays on us and they have a couple dynamic players we need to watch out for.”
The bye week has also rejuvenated the players inside the program, who are ready to crack pads against someone other than their teammates for the first time in 14 days. C-B expects that energy will give them an advantage.
“It’s going to feel really good to get out there and play again,” C-B senior Seth Casino said. “Our coaching staff used these two weeks to have us ready for this game and I’m pumped up to get out there.”
“Coming off the bye week, we’re super excited. We haven’t played in a while and we have had that extra time to prepare for this game, and we’re ready to come out and show people what we’re made of,” Carrico added.
Valley (0-2) presents a prime opportunity for C-B to move its record above .500 for the first time this season. The Lumberjacks enter winless and have allowed 43 points per game through their first two games. Last fall, C-B downed Valley in a 40-32 shootout on the road.
“It’s a big opportunity,” Casino said. “The last few years playing them, we’ve lost to them at home, but every time we go there, we beat them. If we can get this win at home, it’ll shoot the energy through the roof and it’ll stay there for a while.
“We just need to go out, take what we’ve practiced this season so far and execute. We’ll see from there if we have what it takes.”
