Don’t think this six-game losing streak to Bamberg-Ehrhardt isn’t wearing on Edisto head coach Andy Palmer.

“You beat your head off the wall trying to think of ways to get it done,” Palmer said Thursday night. “You don’t leave any stone unturned. There’s not any hiding about it. You have to figure out everything you can do to beat them.”

Tonight, Palmer’s Cougars host the Red Raiders in Cordova at 7:30 p.m., looking to finally come out on top in the series which has come to be known as “The Battle of 301.”

“You look for every angle,” Palmer said. “It grinds at you. I have tried to steer everything that we have done towards making sure we are ready for what we will see when Bamberg rolls in. That means the scout teams will have to give us a look. If you are on the scout team you have to give us a look because Bamberg is going to give us a look.

“You can’t practice patsy on patsy,” he added. “You have to practice one on one, and we have done that. We have kept the pads on and we have gotten the little extra bit of contact. It’s been our best versus our best. If you are just leaning on JV guys then you are not getting a good look at it. We have gotten a good look at it, offensively and defensively.”

Last season, Edisto came close to putting B-E’s winning streak to rest, but the Red Raiders were able to hold on and win, 7-0, thanks to a 1-yard first-quarter touchdown by quarterback Zack Godley. Godley is gone, but the Red Raiders still feature tailback Demetrius Williams as well as Under Armour All-American lineman A.J. Cann, who is committed to South Carolina, and University of Kentucky commitment Justin Henderson. The presence of Cann and Henderson, especially on defense, will be a hurdle for the ground-oriented Edisto offense.

“We are definitely not going to try to run it right up the gut every time,” Palmer said. “That would be foolish. They will have to spread out with us, and if not, then we will have to stand up and throw it to somebody. We are going to see what they put in the box. If they put a bunch of folks in there then we are going to start throwing it. Tyler Davis is going to get the first shot at quarterback for us, and we feel like he has had a good preseason and summer.

“We are not afraid,” Palmer added. “If we have to, we can stand up and throw it. We have some packages that we can put together and we still have Malik (Brown) and Derrick (Jenkins) in the backfield. If you spread out with us and give us enough room, we will give it to them in there and go with it.”

Even if the Cougars find success spreading B-E out on defense, they have to figure out how to stop Cann and Henderson from leading the Red Raiders’ line up and knock them down, run-heavy, offense.

“We steered into this year hanging our hat on defense,” Palmer said. “Last week, I went home after a 3-0 jamboree win over Ridgeland thinking, we didn’t do well on offense, but we told them the first of the year that if the defense plays well, we kick the field goal, we win. That’s what happened in the jamboree so we are expecting to play defense well. We have a good kicking game with Corey Pitts returning. Three-and-outs aren’t great on offense, but we have a good punter. On change of possession, we will punt it down there, put our defense out there and get it back. “

Yes, 3-0 wouldn’t be bad at all for Edisto this year.

“There’s no doubt,” Palmer said. “We have talked about it. We have talked about it all week long. They know about it. The seniors got up and talked about it themselves to the team and what it would mean to them to win the game. The kids talked about it (Thursday) and put it to rest.”

Game changers

Malik Brown and Derrick Jenkins

School: Edisto

Why: Palmer smiles when he starts talking about his two backs. Brown is an Elite 11 selection at linebacker, but the Edisto coach believe Jenkins is poised for a breakout season. Jenkins, who has a 4.5 40 time, rushed for 618 yards and four touchdowns last season. Brown had 450 yards rushing and five touchdowns.

“I’m excited about that backfield tandem,” Palmer said. “They lift together. They motivate each other. When one is down the other one gets up. They are co-captains with Tyler Davis, and those three, and especially (Brown and Jenkins) just go at it.”

If the duo can carry the Edisto offense, the Cougars may be able to break the Red Raiders’ win streak.

A.J. Cann and Justin Henderson

School: Bamberg-Ehrhardt

Why: It’s easy to pick these two for any game. They are both headed to SEC schools for a reason. Against Bamgberg-Ehrhardt, the duo could really change the game on the defensive side of the ball. Henderson had 65 tackles and 10 sacks last season, and Cann had 64 tackles, 22 for loss and 14 sacks. Having both players in front of them could make getting out of the backfield very tough for Brown and Jenkins.

T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder can be reached via e-mail at blinder@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5553.

 

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