Livingston Opens Second-Half With Jackson County

Story by Rusty Ellis

The first half of the 2021 football season saw Livingston Academy go 0-5 to start the Dale Flatt era, as they fell most recently to Macon County in week five.

The season thus far has been a learning and growing experience for the young Wildcats, and among the improvements he’s seen, Flatt says what stuck out to him against the Tigers was the effort level to start the second half.

“We really struggled with them, but it seemed like we came out in the second half and did much better,” Flatt said. “Our defense held them better, and our offense moved the ball better. I think all of those things added up to a better performance in the second half, but we still struggled in the first.”

It’s been a consistent trend of the Wildcats, as they have often started slow in games this season before making changes and playing better in the third and fourth quarters. Playing a complete game is one of Flatt’s goals with five games left in the regular season.

“I’m trying to put it all together, and I think our boys are too,” Flatt said. “When you have a young team, it’s hard to get them to play a full game. That’s something that we really need to work on, and it’s something that we talk about a lot…I think we’re playing good defense at times, but we’re not scoring like we need to.”

Finishing drives in the red zone is another point of emphasis for Flatt.

“When we get in the red zone, we need to score,” Flatt said. “That’s something that we need to work on, but something that people don’t realize is that when you get down there, you’re close, but things get a little tighter and it’s a little harder than when it’s more wide open.”

The Wildcats will travel to Gainesboro this week to take on the Jackson County Blue Devils. On film, Flatt sees a team that will have a pretty wide mix of offensive sets that his defense will need to be on their toes in order to stop.

“They’re kind of like us in that they lost a lot from last year,” Flatt said. “They run the Wing-T, and then they’ll run the spread. They have a lot that they’ll show you…I see a lot of different looks from Jackson County, and it’s a lot to prepare for. We have to adjust to them, and it makes it very difficult to try to adjust when they do things like that.”

Any win is important to a young team, and Friday presents another opportunity for this young group to get their first win of the season. Safe to say for Flatt, a win on Friday would do a lot for this team’s confidence.

“It’d be great,” Flatt said. “Our boys and coaching staff are both wanting to win. You play the game to win…it’s not just about winning and losing, but it feels really good when you do win.”

Livingston and Jackson County will battle it out on Friday at 7 P.M. in Gainesboro.