By TYLER HENRY
JC Post contributor
The Herington Railers and Rural Vista Heat will enter week three still in search of their first big win, with an opportunity to claim some much-needed momentum in Herington.
“We’re both 0-2 but someone is going to be 1-2 on Friday and both teams should have this date circled on the calendar,” Rural-Vista head coach Brian Henry said. “I think we have a good chance, it just depends on how our kids come out.”
While both of these young squads have struggled in 2022, combining for a point differential of -171 thus far, both have seen real improvement already and will look to put those lessons to the test under the Friday night lights.
“From week one to week two we cleaned up a lot of the penalties we were committing and started to make smarter decisions,” Herington head coach Boyd Peterson said. “Our body language improved quite a bit as well and our kids kept their heads up. You have to see a little progress before you can see a big jump and hopefully one sets the other up this week.”
Most of the on-field struggles for the Heat this season can be attributed to a core of exceptionally young starters still getting to grips with the pace of a varsity game.
“The kids are growing and our experience is still the biggest thing we’re getting right now,” Henry said. “We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing against seniors but we’re maturing and getting better on the field as a result.”
On the flip side, the Railers have been working out the fundamentals of the game with a roster that boasts a lot of solid, albeit relatively raw talent.
“We need to understand our responsibility, do our job, play aggressive, and stay physical between the whistles,” Peterson said. “I also want to see our running backs stay on their path and not bounce it to the outside the first chance they get.”
With Hope and White City, the two communities that make up Rural-Vista High School, surrounding Herington, these two programs have gotten plenty familiar with one another over the years.
Going into this week three matchup, the Heat will need to prepare to face a front that may outmatch them in terms of size, but that other teams have found ways to expose this season.
“They’ve got some size and they have a few kids that have been playing since they were freshmen,” Henry said. “Their ends are big and those kids play both ways so their size might scare us.”
For Herington, their path to victory will be heavily dependent on their ability to tackle better in open space and to control the line of scrimmage against the run-heavy Heat.
“This game feels like a great opportunity to build some momentum and establish some confidence,” Peterson said. “Lyndon has a really great football team and coming off that loss was tough but hopefully we can build on a good week here coming into a few home games.”
Kickoff between the Railers and Heat is set for 7 pm at Rural Vista high school, for more on both teams all season long stay tuned to the JC Post.