Southwest looks to get its season on track

The Southwest Patriots are in the middle of a roller-coaster season. During the past four games, the narrative has been the same -- big win followed by a shutout loss. For this week, at least, head coach Joseph Dupree and the Patriots need that trend to continue, after losing 41-0 to Central last week.

"Coming off a loss last week, we need a big win this week," Dupree said. "You never look backwards, and you never look forward. Focus on the game at hand because every time you step in between the white lines, you get the chance to compete,"

The Patriots take on Kendrick for the sixth time in program history, but the two programs have played only once in the past 10 years, which was last season when the Patriots lost 36-18 on the road. The Patriots are 1-3-1 all time against the Cherokees.

"They are going to be well-coached, and they have been tough for us traditionally. We have to go out and play four quarters of football," Dupree said. "They are going to be physical, and they are going to be fast. We can't turn the ball over, and we have to limit our mistakes."

Freshman quarterback Jordan Slocum has been the player to watch all season for the Patriots. His performance against Jordan has been the highlight of the season thus far with 210 passing yards and another 65 on the ground, Slocum accounted for four touchdowns in that game, and the Patriots have relied on their freshman quarterback all season to make plays. Last week against Central, he struggled to make plays as the Patriots failed to score for the second time this season.

"He is a first-year starter, and I thought he has handled the pressure well. The offensive scheme that he is learning is very complex, and he has done a good job with that," Dupree said. "He just has to put the team on his back, and we are going to try to ride this thing out,"

The Patriots still feel like their goals for the season are in reach, according to Dupree. They currently sit at 2-3 in GHSA Region 2-AAA.

"We have three games left, and we need to win out. I don't know the playoff race yet, I haven't really looked at it," Dupree said

The game is being played Saturday at Henderson Stadium. Dupree said there is a big difference playing Saturday instead of Friday.

"We haven't really had much luck playing on a Saturday, to be honest. We have tried to change up the schedule a little bit this week," Dupree said. "Trying to make it more like a Friday game. Our guys didn't respond well to the last Saturday game we had, so hopefully they will respond well this week."

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 8:18 PM with the headline "Southwest looks to get its season on track ."