California looking for third straight victory in Tri-County battle at Versailles

(At left) California's Lucas Ash makes a catch during a game last month against School of the Osage in California.
(At left) California's Lucas Ash makes a catch during a game last month against School of the Osage in California.

CALIFORNIA - The California Pintos are looking for their third consecutive win as they get ready to face the Versailles Tigers in a Tri-County Conference contest.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. today in Versailles.

California (4-1) is coming off a 21-14 win last Friday against Boonville, while Versailles (0-2) canceled its game last week against Blair Oaks. It was the third game in a row canceled for Versailles due to COVID-19 concerns.

The Pintos have been pretty healthy so far this year, and California coach Derek Scroggins said the team is playing with a lot of confidence right now.

"Really, we have had that all season long," Scroggins said. "It all started as soon as we finished last season. They have worked hard in the weight room and they are doing pretty well."

With Versailles having a stretch of games canceled, Scroggins said the Pintos could be facing some unknowns when it comes to getting ready for what Versailles might throw at them.

"Really it makes it kind of an unknown; where they have been able to practice for three weeks with no games, I mean it is basically like another preseason," Scroggins said. "So that makes it, from our standpoint, harder to prepare for because they could be running a completely different offense and defense than they showed in Weeks 1 and 2. So that is where we can do our best guess with what they are going to show us, but we need to make sure that we are fundamentally sound and taking care of the little things."

Scroggins said California might see some power football and maybe some options from Versailles, but it is hard to tell under the Tigers' first-year head coach Krik Hannah.

"(Versailles) talked about early on that they wanted to be able to run power football and some option. We have not really seen the option," Scroggins said. "Like I said, it is hard to say and it is more of an unknown. They've got all five of our game films and we just got two of theirs, so really it is anyone's best guess.

"There is a chance they are going to be running exactly what they ran the first two weeks, and there is a chance they are completely different. So there is no sense stressing about it, we can't change it. I am sure if they could do things differently and play all five games instead of just the first two games, they would have. But it has been 2020 and that is not the case for some teams."

Scroggins said the Pintos need to take care of the football and play fundamentally sound.

"Like I said before, make sure we are fundamentally sound and we are executing and taking care of the little things," Scroggins said.