By Ashley Hargrove
TANNER — Laron White isn’t quite sure whether his team’s loss to Lexington last Friday night was a good or bad thing.
But the Ratters’ coach feels his team learned a lesson.
“They learned you can’t get down and expect to win against a good team like that,” White said. “ Most of these guys have lost before and have been taking this week in stride. I’m still not sure whether it’s a good or bad thing; it all depends on how the rest of this week goes. It was time for a lesson we could learn from, and if we continue to work hard, we should be fine.”
After holding Lexington to 3-and-out, Tanner fumbled on their first possession of the game. White said before his team was able to take another snap the score was 10-0.
“When you play a team like Lexington, it’s hard to come from behind,” White said. “We fumbled six times and lost four, which is something that we haven’t done in a long time. But I’m not taking anything away from them, they’re a good football team.”
Despite being handed their first region loss since falling to Addison 14-9 in 2007, White said his team was in good spirits heading into Friday’s 2A, Region 8 match up with Clements.
“We’ve just had to put it behind us and look at Clements as the next team on our schedule,” White said. “They’re a good experienced team.”
Meanwhile at Clements, the Colts are coming off their first win of the season.
“It was huge for us,” head coach Barry Daniel said. “In the time I’ve been here, I think we’ve only come back once with a win when we’ve had to travel over an hour. We needed some positive momentum heading into this week.”
Heading into Friday’s game, Tanner is 2-1 and 1-1 in the region, while Clements is 1-2 and 1-1in the region.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Rip Swanner Stadium.
