Warhawks look to bounce back against Ariton

The Daleville Warhawks (3-1, 1-1) will look to rebound this week on the road against the Ariton Purple Cats (2-2, 2-0) in a big Class 2A, Region 2 matchup.

Ariton is coming off back-to-back region wins over Geneva County and Houston County, while Daleville lost its first game of the season against G.W. Long last week.

Ariton is coming off of a 48-12 dismantling of Houston County – who Daleville also defeated earlier this year – and will come into the game with Daleville with renewed confidence after starting this season 0-2 with losses to Dale County and Goshen.

“We expect to see a lot of the same this week out of Ariton as we did against Long,” Daleville coach Desmond Lett said. “They’re very physical, big up front and they’re a team that’s going to come right at us. They’ll line up and run it right at us and see if we can stop it.”

Lett said that he is challenging his team this week to match the Purple Cats’ physicality.

“We’re going to challenge the kids this week to match that physicality,” Lett emphasized. “If we do that I feel like we matchup really well with them but we have to do that to give ourselves a chance.”

Lett said matching Ariton’s physicality will be the key to the game and having a physical runner like senior Jalen White – who has surpassed 1,000 yards in just four games – will go a long way in that.

“That will be the biggest key in the game for sure, but we also have to make sure we just don’t turn the ball over and play our game,” Lett said. “Do what we’ve been coached to do and I feel like we’ll give ourselves a chance to win.”