The Harmony Grove Cardinals and Glen Rose Beavers bring their undefeated records into Week 4 as they prepare to battle at Sykes Stadium on Friday.
The contest will kickoff at 7 p.m. and will be the first 5-3A Conference game for the two schools.
Glen Rose holds the edge over the Cardinals, having only lost to Harmony Grove once.
The Beavers romped past the Cardinals in 2015, winning 47-0 at home.
However, this year's contest could be the most evenly matched one to date.
“The opening conference game is always big for both teams,” said Glen Rose Head Coach Mark Kehner. “Having Harmony Grove as the first game just makes that rivalry a little bit bigger in itself. They are obviously doing a really good job, coming in at 3-0.”
The Cardinals entered last week’s game without seven starters due to injury, including sophomore linebacker/running back Jake Brooks (knee) and senior receiver Nathan Watkins. However, Head Coach Paul Calley said his team is healthy for Friday’s battle.
“There is no better feeling than that, but we are going to have to play perfect and they are going to have to make some mistakes,” Calley said. “I know that sounds like coach speak, but if you know the history of Coach Kehner and what he has done at Glen Rose, you know it’s the truth.”
Brooks is expected to be back for Harmony Grove and has participated well in practices this week.
“He has had a good couple of days of practice,” Calley said.
Harmony Grove defeated Magnet Cove 49-21 on homecoming in Week 3, scoring all of its points in the first half.
A number of Cardinals put together career nights, including junior quarterback Hunter Hilson, who completed 15 of 20 attempts for 220 yards passing and three TDs. Senior running back Antonio Roberson eclipsed 100 yards on the ground for the second straight week, trucking for 139 on 11 carries and three TDs, and senior receiver Dillon Hager got in on the action with eight catches for 136 yards and two scores.
With the early dominance, the Cardinals’ starters didn’t take a snap in the second half.
“Coming into this week, I still don’t think we are in the game shape that we need to be in,” Calley said. “Only playing half a game … I worry about the conditioning factor. Especially on defense, because we didn’t play a lot of snaps.
“(Glen Rose) is so physical and really gets after you. It will take an extraordinary effort on our part.”
For Kehner and the Beavers, they are coming off their closest game of the season, a 35-27 win over Camden Harmony Grove. Senior quarterback Aaron Weatherford, too, put up huge numbers, tossing for more than 300 yards in the road win.
Like many times during his career, Weatherford will be called upon this week as the leading factor for the Beavers.
“He is going to have to make good decisions with the football,” Kehner said. “We are not the typical team that we have been in the past with the ground-and-pound philosophy offensively, so this week he is going to have to throw the ball down field and stretch some people out of the box and start running the ball.”
Calley complimented the play and talent of Weatherford and acknowledged he will be tough to bring down come Friday night.
“He is a very skilled quarterback and a guy that is very hard to tackle,” Calley said. “He has a lot of touch on his passes and is very accurate. We have talked about how important it is to gang tackle. You are not going to be able to go after him and tackle alone. You have to wrap him up and wait for help.
“You can’t try to be a one-man wrecking crew and try to do it alone because it isn’t going to happen.”