TIPTON - Following a close 13-12 loss to Cole Camp last Friday, the Tipton Cardinals are looking to rebound as they get ready for their West Central Conference game tonight against the Slater Wildcats.
Slater (2-3) is coming off of a 42-35 road loss to Lincoln last week.
Tipton coach Tony Braby said it can be hard to rebound from such a close loss, especially to a rival like Cole Camp.
"You think about it for a day or two and the players are pretty resilient and come Monday," he said. "We had a good turnout and a good practice, so I think they have already forgotten about the game and are getting ready for Slater. So it is that they don't dwell a lot on it. It hurts immediately after, but then you move on."
After scoring only 12 points in their last game, Braby said the Cardinals have to cut down on their mistakes, which proved to be costly last week.
"When you put two good teams together, you just can't make a lot of mistakes, and that is what we did," Braby said. "We had a ton of penalties. I believe we fumbled the ball twice. It was just doing things, not running the right pass route, so mentally we beat ourselves.
"Had we not made those mistakes, who knows what might have happened, but that is part of football and a against a good team it is going to cost you to make those mistakes and we did. So we have to tighten up on things mentally."
Braby did note how Tipton's offensive line did a good job blocking last week against Cole Camp.
"The offensive line did a really good job; all five of the lineman with their blocking," Braby said. "Cole Camp is really tough defensively and we did a good job. Running back Cameron Whisler had a big night, he ran for some very tough yards in between the tackles, and a lot of the credit goes to the offensive line. That group of players made things happen for us."
When it comes to the Cardinals' defense, Braby said they will have to focus on Slater's quarterback, Keegan Zdybel, who has rushed for 581 yards and five touchdowns.
"They have a really good quarterback that can run the ball very effectively. He is very fast, he is a big, tall kid that looks like he has the ability to go to the next level and play for a small college," Braby said. "So we are going to have to contain him and not let him get to the outside. We have to keep him in the pocket.
"I think if we can control him, that is our main focus, slowing him down with his run and hopefully have some good pass rush on him and try to see if the other players that they have can beat us. He makes a lot of things happen and he is always involved with the football. So that is our primary goal, is to slow him down."
Zdybel also leads Slater's defense with 65 tackles and two interceptions.
When on offense, Braby said Tipton (3-3) has to be ready for Slater's 4-3 Cover 2 defense.
"It should give us an opportunity to throw the ball a little bit more," Braby said. "They are pretty stingy when you run the ball up the middle, so we are hoping that we can get the ball to the outside edge with our sweeps and counters, and that is a big part of our game.
"With that in mind, just mixing it up trying to keep them off balance. We had a good offensive game against Cole Camp, so we are hopeful we can keep that going and put together some first downs to eat the clock and hopefully be successful."