After a season-opening loss against Cookeville, the Upperman Bees are attempting to avoid an 0-2 start to the season as they prepare to take on the Dekalb County Tigers.
The Bees are in uncharted waters under third year head football coach Adam Caine. He said the Bees inexperience was one of many factors in the Cookeville game.
“We were young and inexperienced going into what can be a challenging environment,” said Caine. “They were, I think, the more seasoned team for the most part. I felt like a lot of it had to do with nerves and anxiety and maybe it was a little too big for some of our guys at that point,”
As Upperman looks ahead, the UCR High School Football Game of the Week pits the high-powered attack of the Tigers against the physical Bees.
The Tigers (0-1) were narrowly defeated 30-24 by Warren County in week one. They are led by senior dual-threat quarterback Axel Aldino. Aldino threw for four touchdowns against the Pioneers.
“He’s good. He’s got a really good arm,” said Caine on Aldino. “When he gets hot he can eat you alive. It’s drastically different from last week. Now we’ve got to go up against a little bit more of a balanced deal. He’s a true dual-threat and they’ve got some big strong kids blocking for him, so it’s not like you can just drop a bunch of guys in coverage. They do a good job of keeping you honest.”
Caine said he hopes some new faces on the field will energize his team.
“We’re going to put some new faces out on the field,” said Caine. “Hopefully we can play a little faster and react a little quicker and maybe actually get a team into a third down. It’ll be a good test for us, for sure.”
The Tigers have a host of weapons on the outside led by senior defensive back and wide receiver Desmond Nokes. On-paper, it appears Nokes and junior UHS wide receiver Daniel Metzgar will be matched up in the game.
“It’ll be interesting. Daniel is a good playmaker for us,” said Caine. “(Dekalb County) is not afraid to play 60 out of 60 snaps in front of your receiver’s face. It’ll be a challenge for Daniel to see if he can get a little separation or get behind them. We respect their guys. They’ve got good players at Dekalb and they always have. They’re a team that went pretty deep in the playoffs last year. We know they’re going to have a great deal of confidence.”
The Bees have lost just 2 regular season games under Caine. He said the Bees top priority is improving daily.
“Our biggest factor this week is improving ourselves,” said Caine. “Trying to turn ourselves into a more cohesive football team as well as a more competitive football team. We got all the jitters out and hopefully now we can just go play ball.”
Kickoff between the Bees and Tigers is set for 7 p.m. Friday in Smithville. It is the UCR High School Football Game of the Week and will be broadcast live on the UCR Facebook page and on 107.7 FM and 1400 AM the HUB. Pregame coverage is set to begin at 6:45 p.m.