Cougars to face Nation Ford

The Cougars travel Friday night to Nation Ford for a Region 3-AAAA game. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

The YCHS team seeks to recover from last week’s 51-20 loss to the Gaffney Indians.

“We’ve had a couple rough weeks against really good football teams,” said Bobby Carroll, Cougar head coach. “Hopefully, we can rebound this week and get after it.”

Nation Ford defeated Fort Mill, 49-27, last week.

“Nation Ford is an extremely good football team,” Carroll said. “They’ve got a great quarterback who’s about to set every record you can set throwing the ball and several wide receivers who are tall and fast, and can catch the ball. They have a couple running backs that run the ball well.”

Against Gaffney, Carroll said the Indians were faster and stronger than York.

“We woke up a sleeping giant,” he said. “They beat us every way you can be beaten, physically and mentally.”

Now it’s up to York to work.

“All you can do is go back to practice Monday and try to get better,” Carroll said.

Deivonne Chalk, a defensive linemen who is hearing from multiple colleges, is ready to move on.

“They just got the better of us,” he said. “We need everybody to be focused, listen to the coaches and get ready for the next game.”

The Cougars had shining moments, courtesy of return specialist Javione Matthews.

The fleet-footed junior had 80- and 78-yard punt returns for touchdowns in the second half.

The Cougars scored on a 23-yard pass from quarterback Wally Wilmore to Tyquan McCray on the last play of the game.

Carroll was looking forward to Friday’s challenge at Nation Ford.

“We hope these kids will show some resiliency,” he said. “Maybe learn from that little bit of adversity, come back and play hard against Nation Ford. We’ve got to keep our heads up in the region.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Cougars to face Nation Ford."