It’s never easy losing to a county rival, but the good news for Southmont football is there’s still plenty left to play for. South fell to North Montgomery 28-14 a week ago in their Sagamore Conference opener and now will look to bounce back in week four on Friday night when the Mounties (2-1, 0-1 SAC) host the Frankfort Hot Dogs (1-2 , 0-1 SAC).
Being back at home, plus wanting to get back in the win column means the Mounties won’t need any extra motivation to get up for this game.
“Last week was tough,” Southmont coach Desson Hannum said. “Our kids still fought hard till the very end, we just committed way too many self-inflicted mistakes. We just have to be better in terms of penalties (nine a week ago) and learn from last week as move forward into the season.”
Frankfort after a 44-20 win in their season opener has struggled mightily the last two weeks, being out--scored 95-8 in its last two games. They’re led out by senior signal caller Doug Wood on offense. Wood through three weeks is 19-45 (42%) with 214 yards and a touchdown. The Hot Dogs have relied heavily this season on senior running back Caleb Boggs who has carried the ball 50 times for 221 yards and three scores. Wood is able to run as well tallying 18 carries and 100 yards through three games. When the Hot Dogs do go to their air they rely on the duo of senior Garek Birge (10 rec. 120 yds) and junior Rolando Castillo (7-88).
“Frankfort’s a team over the years that has changed its identity multiple times,” Hannum said when prepping for the Hot Dogs. “They’re now back to a power run offense up front. It looks like they’re trying to be a lot more balanced than what they have been.”
The Mounties struggled to build consistency a week ago on offense against a stout Charger defense. On the year still senior QB Nolan Boyer is completing 50% of his passes (23-46) for 375 yards and four touchdowns. He did throw two interceptions in the loss a week ago. Senior fullback and linebacker Wyatt Woodall is coming off a school record 24 tackles a week ago. Woodall on the season offensively has rushed for 462 yards on the ground on 49 carries with eight touchdowns. Kyler McCandless is the Mounties leading receiver with 162 yards on eight catches and a pair of TD’s.
“For us to get back on track it comes down to not turning the ball over and not committing those penalties to put us behind the chains to start a drive or put us back when we’re in a third and short situation,” Hannum said. “We turned it over three times last week and those are things we just can’t have. We also need to get back in a rhythm which we didn’t really do last week either.”
The Mounties and Hot Dogs will kick it off from Southmont at 7 p.m. on Friday. You can catch a live broadcast of the game on 106.3 WCDQ beginning at 6:30 as Jared McMurry and Barry Lewis will have the call.
