With a four-game winning streak under its belt and getting hot when it matters most, Apollo will look to continue its winning ways when they take on Marshall County this week.
The Eagles are coming off a nice road victory against Henderson County, defeating them 21-10 on the backs of strong play from junior quarterback Christian Combs.
Combs was a menace with an all-around game against the Colonels, throwing for 147 yards and two touchdowns on 11-16 passing while also rushing for 28 yards and a touchdown on six carries.
Junior Carter Contratto (three receptions, 57 yards) and sophomore Eli Masterson (two receptions, 53 yards) were his primary targets on the night, combining for 110 receiving yards and a touchdown each.
Sophomore Noah Rhinerson and junior Donte Dixon didn’t have their typical strong performance in the backfield, combining for 61 yards on 22 carries.
This is something they will want to shore up, as the dynamic duo typically averages around 118 rushing yards per game to help open things up through the air.
Defensively they’ll look to repeat their performance from last week, in which they only allowed 10 points and only 250 yards of offense. Apollo has only allowed less than 20 points two times this season.
In order to fix things on both sides of the ball, Head Coach John Edge said they’ve focused on the little things in practice this week.
“We have improved in our execution in the red zone and on third down,” Edge said. “On defense we went back to fundamentals with tackling.”
Edge knows that this game will not be the same as a year ago, in which they defeated the Marshals at home 34-10.
“Marshall is a much improved team that has gotten better from last year,” Edge said. “They have a very much improved offensive and defensive line. Their RBs run hard.”
Edge said that in order for them to come away victorious they will have to play sound fundamental football for all 48 minutes.
The Eagles will look to move to 6-2 overall on the season when they finish off a two-game road stand at 7 p.m. on Friday against Marshall County.
