Tanner faces another physical test

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Tanner coach Oscar Bonds knows exactly what to expect Friday night when his Rattlers host Red Bay, and it’s not just because of the film he has watched. He has a lot of experience with the Tigers’ coach.

Red Bay head coach Michael Jackson was Bonds’ position coach when Bonds was a running back at Russellville. Jackson went on to become a head coach at Buckhorn and Russellville before taking over at Red Bay in 2014.

“Coach Jackson is a big believer in hitting the weights and being physical,” Bonds said. “I already know what kind of game it’s going to be, so we’ve got to be ready for that. But we’ve got to play our style as well, and that’s make big plays.”

Bonds said Red Bay is nearly a mirror image of the Hatton teams the Rattlers played two weeks ago. They are a big, physical team that will line up and run right at you. And that has been something Tanner has struggled to stop this season.

“That’s been our biggest problem. If you’re going to compete with the teams like Red Bay, Hatton and Addison, you’ve got to be stronger and get in the weight room. It’s easy to be blocked if you’re not strong enough. I’m a big believer that if you work hard in the weight room and condition yourself, it will pay off on the field.”

Bonds believes Region 7 might be the toughest region in Class 2A, and the results of recent games bear that out.

“Red Bay lost to Addison 29-12 and beats Hatton 32-6, and then Colbert County beats Addison 35-8 and then Red Bay turns around and beats Colbert County 12-7,” Bonds said. “It’s a tough, grueling region. There are very few easy games.”

Red Bay is 5-2 overall and 3-1 in region play, having upset previously-undefeated-in-region Colbert County 12-7 last week. There is a good possibility Red Bay, Addison and Colbert County could all finish in a three-way tie for first place in the region, with the top three positions being determined by tiebreakers.

Tanner still has a chance to make the playoffs if the Rattlers can win their final two region games against Red Bay and Sheffield and Addison defeats Hatton next week.

But Bonds knows that won’t happen unless Tanner gets better at defending the powerful run game they are sure to see Friday night.

“If you can stop the run and make a team one-dimensional, you’ve got a chance to win,” Bonds said. “But you’ve got to stop the run, and we haven’t been able to do that all season.”