One week after dropping a last-minute 17-14 loss to Colbert Heights, Clements is looking to respond with a good performance against Lexington. But the weather sure hasn’t helped things any, according to Coach Cody McCain.

“It’s been a really messed-up week as far as practice,” McCain said. “Monday, we got to come out here for an hour and a half before they made us leave. (Tuesday) all schools were closed, so we weren’t allowed to come here and practice. It’s been a really strange week as far as practice time goes. We’re trying to squeeze three or four days of preparation into two and a half days.”

McCain said while the players were very upset after Friday’s loss, they have come out this week ready to focus on Lexington.

“Overall, the kids have been in pretty good spirits,” he said. “It’s kind of tough to get past a loss like that, but we have another opportunity Friday to get back in the win column.”

Lexington brings a 1-1 record into the game, dropping its season opener to Central-Florence 34-18 before opening up 3A, Region 8 play last week with a 47-15 win over Elkmont, in which the Golden Bears rushed for more than 400 yards.

Clements’ defense has been stout this year, allowing just 24 points in its first two games. But McCain said they will face their toughest test against Lexington’s veer option offense.

“They lost quite a few guys from their team in the past, but their quarterback and fullback returned, and both of those guys are multiple year starters,” McCain said. “They have a lot of experience in what they do. A lot of times in an option offense, it takes quite a bit of game experience before guys get comfortable in what they’re trying to read and where the holes are at in the defense. These guys have a lot of experience and are familiar with it, which makes it tougher for the defense.”

McCain said the Colts defense will have to do two things well to slow down the Lexington offense.

“We’ve got to play responsibility football,” he said. “Who is responsible for the quarterback and who is responsible for the pitch man? The second thing is we’ve got to be really sound in tackling. So far this season, that’s an area where we’ve been really good at. Our guys have swarmed to the football this year and we need to continue that Friday. Their fullback is a guy, that if you’re not in a good tackling stance and don’t use good leverage and pad level, he’ll run right through you.”

While the Clements defense has been stout this year, the Colts offense hasn’t been as prolific. Clements scored 14 points in each of its first two games, but one of its touchdowns last Friday was a defensive touchdown on an interception return.

McCain said penalties have been the big reason the Colts haven’t scored many points so far this season.

“Eliminating penalties and stopping ill-timed turnovers is the biggest thing,” he said. “In week one, we had a lot of penalties and last week we had a couple of fumbles and three or four penalties that really killed drives. The way we’re trying to play on offense, there’s not a lot of plays in the playbook for first and 25 or second and 20. When you have a hold or block in the back, it really makes it difficult to get 25 yards back in a couple of plays.”

Clements features a single wing offense, with lots of running plays to control the clock, but it’s not an offense that has a lot of big-play capability, making the penalties even more difficult to overcome.

“We’re actually averaging about 5 yards per carry, so it’s not like we’re getting stuffed,” McCain said. “Our plan is to gain four or 5 yards per carry, move the chains and keep the clock running. When we do that, we are doing well, but penalties have definitely slowed us down and that has been a big factor for us so far.”