‘This is going to be a really good test for us’- Mark Pemberton, Head Coach of the Campbell Cougars
TOP PHOTO: WLAF’s Charlie Hutson shares a photo from Eagle I high above Reynolds Field as Campbell hosted Clinton a season ago. Clinton won that game 55-14.
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- Take along your rain gear and rally towel as Campbell and Clinton meet up on the gridiron tonight at the Dragons home field. It’s the first region game for these old rivals who have played each other 43 times dating back to the Cougars first season in 1975.
Watch Coach Pemberton’s pre-game interview HERE on demand.
“They’ve played a really tough schedule just like we have. They’ve played West, the defending state champs, and Cleveland, and we’ve played Halls and Fulton,” said Mark Pemberton, Head Coach of the Campbell Cougars. Each team earned their first wins a week ago at home with Clinton whipping Scott 48-13 while Campbell outscored The Kings Academy 21-13.
“They (Clinton) have some really good athletes, and they’ve got some speed,” said Pemberton. It’s quite the contrast. There’s Clinton and its spread offense while Campbell features its pounding, time consuming ground game.
“We want to limit their possessions like we did last week. TKA didn’t get the ball until about four minutes to go in the first quarter. Our first drive was 12 plays, and that’s the kind of thing we need to do,” said Pemberton. Campbell’s last drive of the game was 14 plays. “We want to get to doing this (controlling the clock and the ball) every series and put first downs together,” said the first year veteran coach.
There is rain in tonight’s weather forecast. However, a break from the rain could come around sunset, 8pm. Even though there have been some soggy, muddy field games in this series, each team now has artificial surfaces.
This marks the 44th meeting between Campbell and Clinton dating back to 1975. The Dragons hold a 32-11 edge though nine of Campbell’s wins have come since 2011. The Cougars first win in the series was 21-2 at Clinton in 1977.
Les Martin on play-by-play and Brent Allen, color, with sideline reporter Josh Parker will send you all of the coverage of Friday night Cougar Football beginning at 6:30pm with kick-off at 7pm. It’s Campbell visiting the Clinton Dragons at City Field over the WLAF-Doyle’s Tire Sports Network, which consists of radio AM 1450, FM 100.9, and live televised coverage over WLAF-TV Channel 1089, 1450wlaf.com, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon Fire TV, and Twitch.
.jpg)
Wlaf1450