LAPEL — With one regular- season game remaining on the schedule, the Lapel Bulldogs have one last opportunity to tweak their game plan before meeting Eastern High School of Greentown in the sectional.
On Friday, the Bulldogs will play host to Eastern Hancock of Charlottesville in a senior night celebration. The Royals are 7-1 and rated 12th in Class 2A in two separate polls.
In an Oct. 11 meeting with Jay County, the Bulldogs came away with a 28-6 win against the visitors, and they had to do so without the arm of starting quarterback Cole Alexander, who sat out with an injury.
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However, sophomore Brennan Stow stepped in and completed 13-19 passes, including two touchdown tosses to Charlie Prough.
“We’ve been blessed to have a succession of quarterbacks, and I thought Brennan came in and played well in very tough conditions,” coach Tim Miller said.
“It was an odd week for us,” Miller said. “We had quite a few guys out, but I thought our kids handled it well. Some guys stepped up and played well.”
Alexander is expected back to face Eastern Hancock.
The Bulldog defense will have to face the No. 7-ranked quarterback in the state in sophomore Houston Swan. Swan is closing in on the 2,000 yards passing mark for the season and has a 68% completion rate. He has five talented underclassmen receivers. Only one has fewer than 300 yards receiving, and two are hovering near the 500 mark.
The Royals are averaging 41 points per game this season.
“I think we’ll be pretty close to full strength next week barring any setbacks,” Miller said. “That would put us at full strength for the first time since Week 2.”
On the Bulldog field, Lapel has been without Tyler Dollar, but the steady running back Josiah Scott has kept the ground game moving.
Scott scored two touchdowns against Jay County in the second half of the game, and for the season Scott has been the leading Bulldog rusher with more than 900 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Senior night festivities will get underway at 6:30 on the Bulldog field, and kickoff is at 7 p.m.
