The Bombers travel to Jonesboro to battle the Nettleton Raiders, who rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half to stun Mountain Home, 28-24, last year.
The Raiders also rallied in the second half two years ago, taking a 20-19 victory over the Bombers on a fourth-down play in the final seconds. Mountain Home outgained Nettleton on offense in both losses.
"They do have a lot of kids back," Mountain Home head coach Bryan Mattox said. "Of course, every team on our schedule has a lot of kids back. Their team speed is what jumps out at you. They run a Marion-type offense, with a zone read, but they'll put a bubble screen out. We've been working really hard on that, corralling their team speed."
The Raiders return a three-year starter at quarterback in Deondre Henry (6-1, 190).
"That experience at quarterback goes a long way," Mattox said. "(Noah) Ditmanson from Harrison made a couple plays where we got to him, but he kept his eyes downfield. Most quarterbacks don't have that, but those experienced ones do. We need to keep (Henry) in the pocket and not let him scramble."
Henry was a catalyst in the past two Raider rallies to fell the Bombers, as was senior running back Detavion Turner, who scored the aforementioned fourth-down TD against Mountain Home in 2015.
"I think a little more consistency, execution-wise, on the offensive side of the ball, will go a long way this week," Mattox said. "Nettleton, like any other opponent we face, we're going to try to keep the ball away from them and their explosive offense."
One spot at which the Bombers are hoping to have an advantage is size on the offensive and defensive lines.
"We are hoping, up front, that we can win the battle," Mattox said. "You look back at Harrison, we didn't turn the ball over. Usually when you don't give up big plays on defense, you don't turn the ball over, and you win the time of possession battle, that usually results in a win."
The Bombers were able to check each of those three things off the list, but still fell 27-7 to Harrison after the game was tied 7-7 late in the third quarter.
"If we can have a repeat of not turning the ball over — and we have to get points out of our drives," Mattox said of the Bomber offense. "We need to be able to hit the play-action pass when they start overloading the box.
"We need a great effort from kids like Luke Foreman, who played a phenomenal game against Harrison," Mattox added. "You don't hear his name called a lot. He just made some special plays and stood out. Guys like Gabe Henderson, who play both sides of the ball, Ben Henderson and David Wehmeyer. And the secondary did a good job of putting Harrison back in the huddle when it was completed short."
Nettleton will have to adapt its defense to face Mountain Home's rushing attack.
"They run a 3-3 stack," Mattox said, "but when you play a team like us who runs the ball so much, they will run a different defense. We expect to see them in an even front and an odd front at different times in the game."
Starters Blake Bogy and Peyton Hughes were lost to injuries against Harrison, and Aaron Holmes also was injured in the loss to the Goblins.
"The injury bug keeps hitting us, so we need to have a lot of guys ready," Mattox said. "We need to get lined up on the defensive side and know our assignments."
Mattox is looking for the same intensity the Bombers showed against Harrison.
"They just battled the whole game," he said. "That goal-line stand when it was out of reach just showed they never gave up. We're hoping to get that same effort from them. Th... Click here to read full article
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