Dragons search for 1st win after nearly getting it last week

The football team at Lane College enters this week’s game at Clark Atlanta 0-4.

Clark Atlanta is 0-4 too.

Dragons head coach Vyron Brown says he expects a tough battle because of that.

“Everybody is looking for their first win, and someone is going to get it while the other team doesn’t,” Brown said. “Clark Atlanta wants to win, and so do we.

“I can tell you from our side of things that we’ve worked too hard to be 0-4.”

The Dragons came close to their first win this past weekend, falling to unbeaten Tuskegee 28-22 in double-overtime after coming back from a 14-0 deficit in the first half.

He said the players’ approach to this week coming off the narrow loss isn’t much different from any other week.

“The preparation is still the same, and the focus has always been there,” Brown said. “These kids are working their tails off and are hungry for a W.

“But we’ve got a lot of kids who are growing up on the field and getting their first chance to see playing time in games. And they’re making simple mistakes that they’re seeing is the reason they didn’t play a lot last year. So we’re dealing with inexperience in different parts of the field on both sides of the ball while gaining experience each week.”

The Dragons are dealing with injuries also. Quarterback Solomon Polo didn’t play this past week as he suffered a concussion in the game the week before against Benedict.

The Dragons had a little more balanced offensive attack because of that as second-stringer Jerick Gaston completed 16 of 29 passes for 212 yards.

The Dragons rushed for 199 yards with Kylan Duhe leading them with 123 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.

This week’s game will be on the road again – the Dragons’ fourth in five games with another one coming next week.

“Road games aren’t all bad because we’re going to get on a bus on Friday and ride to Atlanta, get something to eat, stay in the hotel and go to the game on Saturday,” Brown said. “When they’re on the road, there are fewer distractions and they’re together focusing on the game.

“So we try to use that to our advantage if we can.”

Brown said Clark Atlanta has a quality running back that is the focal point of their offense, but there’s a wide receiver the Dragons’ defense has to account for before every snap.

Defensively, Clark Atlanta’s strength is up front with a couple of quality defensive linemen, but there’s a very good safety who can get all over the field too.

“Both teams are hungry, so that means it should be a good game,” Brown said.Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news