Published: August 27, 2008 01:35 pm         

Wildcats ready for Top 10 showdown

By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



There’s excitement in the air for any season opener, but when two ranked teams square off to open the year, the emotions of the two teams and their fans can run at a fever pitch.

It’s the case for this week as No. 9 Fultondale travels to No. 3 Addison, Thursday night, in an early-season Class 2A showdown.

“The kids are excited about the game, the coaches are excited about it too,” Fultondale head coach Keith Register said. “The players and our coaches are all ready to play this game.”

According to Register, the Wildcats will face a big challenge in the tradition-rich Bulldogs.

“They’re a bunch of hard-nosed kids, who play a three yards and a cloud of dust-type offense,” Register said. “Their linemen get low and play hard. This game will be decided up front. If our offensive line and defensive line control the line of scrimmage, we’ll win. If their O-line and D-line control us, they’ll win.”

The Bulldogs, coming off an 8-3 season, have eight starters and 20 lettermen coming back from last year’s squad.

“They’re not fancy on offense, we know what they are going to do. They want to drive the ball and milk the clock,” Register said. “But stopping it, that’s another thing.”

The Wildcats defense features eight returning starters from a year ago, including a defensive line that totaled 31.5 quarterback sacks. However, the Wildcats may not see many passes when they visit Addison on Thursday. Addison threw as many as 15 passes in a game last season, but threw only three passes in one game, so the Wildcats run defense will likely be tested for four quarters by the Bulldogs T-formation, two tight end look.

“They run about three different running plays and they run them well,” Register said.

When Fultondale has the ball, the Wildcats must find a way to block Bulldog’s senior nose guard Allen Oliver, who lead the club with 88 tackles last season.

“They’re not very big, but they’re very quick and they’re so sound. They’re well coached,” Register said. “With their scheme, they don’t give up many big plays. They make the drive the ball a long way and they wait for you to make a mistake. We can’t turn it over. We need to keep it away from them.”

The Bulldogs feature a five-man front and stunt and slant often.

“I think we’ll be ready to play Friday,” Register said. “This should be a really good ball game.”