Fleming vs. Prairie

Friday, October 15, 2021

Fleming High School

Quotes from Fleming Head Coach John King:

Thoughts on Fleming's 5-0 start in league play

JK: We've had a good season thus far. We've had a lot of new players start this year and I knew that we'd have some growing pains, but I'm proud of how well our team has adjusted. Our one loss was against a very good 8man team and we bumped up to play a true 8man game and we got beat pretty bad, but I think that competition and loss really helped us prepare for our 6man schedule. Even though I knew that loss would be rough, I knew in the long run it would help us out.

Goals from this moment on for his Wildcats

JK: To just keep improving each and every week. And we've shown improvement each and every week. Every year, I like to have us playing at our best come playoff time and we'll see how we do from there. I really don't talk much about winning league or winning state or making the playoffs, we just talk about pushing ourselves as hard as we can and from there, we'll see how far we can go. 

On what he likes most about this team

JK: It's a great group of kids. Over the years, you always have kids who have you at your wits end, but this group is special. They work hard every day, they have fun and they are very respectful. The success is great, but they just love having fun together and enjoy being around them. 

Thoughts on Friday night's matchup with Prairie

JK: Friday will definitely be our toughest 6man challenge to date. Two teams who are pretty similar. Both play power football with some play-action. Friday should be just a classic, hard fought football game. They're about an hour away so we don't have that neighboring rivalry, but this matchup has been very competitive over the last four to five years. We're always fighting with Prairie for that North League championship.

Quotes from Prairie's Head Coach Justin Kerns:

Thoughts on Prairie's 5-0 start in league play

JK: We're happy with the start so far. We had a couple big games early that we needed to win and we got those wins. But this Friday is the one that has been circled on our calendar since the schedule came out. I've been here six years and I'd say that three or four of those years, it's come down to this game. I don't think they've lost a 6man game in like two-three years, so we have our work cut out for us.  

Goals from this moment on for his Mustangs

JK: We'll, the goal is to make a state championship run. Luckily, our league and regular season schedule is so darn tough, I think it prepares us for the postseason. It always seems like the North League has four-five teams in the top 10 and that's a good thing for all of us. Now it's finding out what you're made of and making that run into November.

On what he likes most about this team

JK: I really like the diversity we have athletically. We have kids who can play multiple positions, we have kids who are strong, some that are fast, some that have great hands. The diversity allows us to play a lot of different ways and throw multiple things at our opponents. Just a great group of well-rounded kids. 

Thoughts on Friday night's matchup with Fleming

JK: I expect Friday to be a super physical grudge match. Two quality teams just battling for four quarters. We've struggled with Fleming over the past few years, but I think we have the ability to win if we can play our game. But we'll need to slow down their bread and butter when they're on offense and when we're on offense, just do what we do and do our jobs each and every play.