County teams hit road this week

By Bart Moss for the FCT

Red Bay at Lamar County

Last year: Lamar County won 21-20

Record: 3-2 (1-1)

Coach Michael Jackson: “Lamar County is our defending region champions. They have an experienced football team. They have very good skill players and the best group of linemen we have played this year.

“We will need to take care of the football and not give up the big play to win this game.”

Russellville at St. John Paul II

Last year: Russellville won 54-7

Record:0-5 (0-3)

Coach Mark Heaton: “We were not ready to play Friday. Our execution was worse than it has been all year. We are not spending a lot of time on the Hartselle film; we are moving forward to the second half of the season.

“St. John Paul II is much improved this year. They are much more dynamic than they have been in the past. We will have to be more sound to compete for a region win.”

Tharptown at Waterloo

Last year: Tharptown won 29-21

Record:1-4 (1-1)

Coach Kevin Lacey: “Waterloo is a different challenge from what we’ve seen most of the year. They like to throw the football a lot. Their quarterback throws the ball well ,and he is difficult to take down.

“It has been a rough year for us to this point, but even still we are 1-1 in our region. At this point last year we were 0-2.

“We are excited about the second half of our season. We are challenging our guys to be short-minded about the first half and work toward the opportunities that are ahead.”

Vina at the Alabama School for Deaf

Last year: Vina won 42-6

Record: 0-6 (0-3)

Coach Jason Harris: “Our offensive line played much better last week. However, we still have a long way to go. Our defense didn’t play well.

“It seems like we are improving each week, and we need to continue to get better on the offensive line. Our defense is struggling, I think, because we just aren’t playing very tough right now.”

Phil Campbell: Off this week