Southwest, Rutland try to end slumps

Southwest hosts Rutland on Friday in a game featuring two teams struggling to find a victory.

The Patriots have lost two of their past three games, including 35-0 loss last week to Spencer. The Hurricanes are going through a stretch of four straight losses after losing to Jordan 35-18 last week.

Each team needs a win to get its season back on track, and Southwest head coach Joseph Dupree is expecting a tough test from the Hurricanes.

“I know that they are going to be well coached. I know they are going to play hard, because any time you play (a Macon-Bibb County) team you know they are going to be ready to play,” Dupree said.

The Hurricanes are looking to limit turnovers this week and fix the problems that have been hurting them the past few games.

“We had some critical fumbles inside the 5 last week,” Rutland head coach Georgia Collins said. “So ball security and taking care of your responsibility is key. We had some break down in that area as well so that’s one of the things we are trying to stress.”

The Patriots enter the game with a mindset that is still focused on achieving their postseason goals. A loss to Rutland, however, could knock them out of contention.

Dupree said his team is focusing on team-orientated drills this week.

“We are just taking it one game at a time,” Dupree said. “We can’t have another game like last week, limit are mistakes and avoid turning the ball over. We just have to stay together as one.”

The Hurricanes’ coaching staff has used the adversity that the team has faced the past couple of weeks as a sense of motivation for the rest of the season.

“It is no different than life; you are going to have it bad sometimes and not like you want it. You just have to bow your neck and go back to work,” Collins said. “Sitting around moping about it is not going to do anything about it.”

Southwest is 2-3 overall and 1-2 in GHSA Region 2-AAA, while Rutland is 1-5 and 0-4.

“It is going to provide a huge challenge. The (local) schools always provide challenges and adversity in a game,” Dupree said. “We are just trying to overcome all of the adversity that we have and try to get us a victory.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2015 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Southwest, Rutland try to end slumps ."