Wildcats face challenge in Smith, Red Devils

Each week during this football season, the Enterprise Wildcats will face teams that likely have at least a few athletes with the ability to play Division 1 college football.

This week is no exception as the ‘Cats travel to face the Central-Phenix City Red Devils.

The Red Devils feature a devilishly good running back in Orwin Smith, who rushed for nearly 1,300 yards last year.

Smith had 144 yards on 29 carries, one touchdown and one fumble lost against Enterprise last year, a 28-7 win for the ‘Cats.

Smith has received scholarship offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson and Georgia Tech among other schools.

Wildcats head coach Kevin Collins said to limit Smith, teams have to keep him off the field.

“The key is minimizing snaps,” Collins said, “and that comes from our offensive end. You have to move the chains and sustain drives. He’s a hard runner. He’s hard tackle. He’s elusive.”

Collins said that does not mean the Wildcats will run the ball every play.

“We’ll do what it takes to move the chains,” he said, adding it was up to the coaches to be smart about that. “Central is too big up front to run it all night long.
We’ve got to test the perimeter, which will be tough with their team speed.”

Collins said his team will have to start the game better offensively then it did against Alma Bryant last week.

“We didn’t handle it well early,” he said, adding the offense threw the ball well and ran better once the team settled down.

The ‘Cats did well defensively last week, which will be key when the Red Devils have the ball.

“We were pretty physical. We ran to the ball well,” Collins said.

The Wildcats also forced two turnovers.

On the injury front, the Wildcats’ biggest offensive lineman, Jared Smith, is a game-time decision.

Smith was injured on the first play from scrimmage in the Alma Bryant game.

Collins said while Smith’s injury hurts the depth some, the ‘Cats can overcome.

“We had a rotation in there. It just sped up our rotation,” Collins said.

Collins said Smith’s injury hurts a little with game experience.

“He’s been in those (game) situations,” Collins said.

If Smith misses the game, Kevin Mullen, Tyler Montgomery and Ben Singleton will rotate in his spot.

Kickoff for the game is set for 7 p.m. Central Standard Time. Phenix City is in the Eastern time zone.