Tigers travel to McCreary for key district game

MANCHESTER, Ky. – Another road matchup is in store for the Tigers this Friday night as Clay County will travel to McCreary Central in a district game. The Raiders have a 2-4 record and are fresh off their third straight loss. While avenging those losses will be at the forefront of their minds, the Tigers seek continuity of their performance on Friday night.

McCreary is a team that’s always improving as the year goes on says Tiger head Coach Mike Sizemore. He knows this will be a physical, hard-hitting contest. “I feel like they get better every week of the season the past few years, they do a great job coaching their kids and improving as the season goes on,” said Sizemore. “They've got some nice players that are upperclassmen that will be leading their team so we know they have ability to play at a high level and will provide a ton of challenges to our team Friday night. They are also like us in a way that they have tons of balance on offense, it may not be balance in terms of run or pass but they get the ball to a lot of different kids over the course of the season that you have to be able to prepare and be ready for going into this game. We need a great effort and tough mentality to go on the road and play this week.”

The Tigers are maintaining an optimistic mindset despite a slow start to the season. This will help them continue to trend in the right direction, says Sizemore. “Our kids have stayed positive all season, they've had a great attitude and worked to improve every week,” said Sizemore. “We also know that we have played up in class every week so far, so we know we've been tested going into the later part of the season and with the injuries we had early, it's allowed us to develop more kids that are underclassmen for the future with meaningful game reps.”

With another tough challenge on deck, the Tigers are full go this week in practice to get where they need to be for Friday night. “We need a great week of practice and then carry it over to what is going to be a tough game on the road this week,” said Sizemore.  “It's always tough to go on the road, and we know this week will be no different against a quality team. Our guys will need to play their best to give us our best chance of success Friday night.”

Kickoff is slated for 7:30PM, Friday night.