By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

This Friday, the Morgan County Bulldogs are taking on the Putnam County War Eagles. This game will be the second away game of the season, and comes on the heels of their second victory this year, a 26-7 win over the Greene County Tigers.
Putnam County’s team this year should provide a challenge to Morgan County, since several of the players on both teams won’t be seeing each other for the first time this week.
Head Coach for the Bulldogs, Bill Malone, describes the age and experience of Putnam County’s team this year.
“Though there are a lot of new faces out there, they’ve still got a number of seniors on the team that saw some action last year. I was hoping to see a very young, very small Putnam team, but that’s not what we’re going to see Friday night.”
Although there may be some changes in player personnel over in Putnam County, the overall style of the team remains the same.
“Coach Reaves and Clower over there are doing an excellent job doing what Putnam County does, which is an attack-style of defense,” said Malone.
Coach Malone also wanted to emphasize the large role the special teams have played so far in this year’s season.
“I’m excited about our special teams' play,” said Malone.
Coach John Robbins, who is the team’s punt return coach, has complete confidence in the special team’s level of performance.
“The mentality for that group of kids is perfect for special teams. We’re going to see a lot of success.”
Malone used sophomore Tristan Yontz’ performance as an example of a player whose talent was found almost serendipitously.
“Talk about digging deep and finding a diamond. We dug deep and found this 10th grader that, at the beginning of spring practice, just started staying after and punting.”
Against Greene County last week, “Tristan Yontz punted for a 41-yard average.”
Since the game against Putnam County will be the last non-region game for the Bulldogs before starting with Oconee County on Sept. 28, Malone has a list of three things he wants to see happen during the game against Putnam this week.
The first item on the list is  only to deal directly with the team’s performance.
“We would like to be able to establish a passing game.”
The second deals with the official’s role in limiting how the game can be played by the teams on the field.
“I would like for us to see what it is like to start some drives around the 20 and push it together without any penalties 10 or 12 plays down the field and score a touchdown. I’d like to flow.”
However, Coach Malone has little control over his last wish for the game this Friday.
“I’d like to see it get 60 degrees. In that, we can play anything.”
The Bulldogs take on the Putnam County War Eagles tomorrow at Putnam County at 7:30 p.m. Bring the family out to support the Bulldogs for the third game of the 2012 season.

Printed in the September 13 edition.