CHAPEL HILL, Texas — Chapel Hill's homecoming game is set for Friday, Sept. 20. But, it's not just any homecoming. This year will feature a spotlight "Battle of the Bulldogs" matchup against Carthage.
Chapel Hill comes into Friday's contest undefeated with wins over Jasper, Gilmer and Whitehouse. But, perhaps, this will be their toughest test so far this season.
They're ranked No. 1 in the #bEASTTexas Fabulous 15 Poll for the second straight week. However, Chapel Hill has been hit with the injury bug.
"Any football team in the state right now, if you played our schedule, you're going to be battered and bruised and banged up a little bit," said Coach Jeff Riordan. "We have some crucial injuries right now that are going to, impact the game a little bit. But we also have the next-man-up mentality."
Carthage will march into the game 1-1 on the season. They nine-time state champions dropped their season-opener to Kilgore, 20-15. They bounced back two weeks later with a dominating 58-20 win over Liberty-Eylau.
"Week 1, we turned the ball over a lot, and we weren't very healthy," said Coach Scott Surratt. "Kilgore deserved that win, there's no question about it. Then we had an off week, and we played very well at Liberty-Eylau, so hopefully we've got a little momentum going into Chapel Hill, because we're going to need it."
Chapel Hill has playmakers like Rickey Stewart and Demetrius Brisbon, who led them to state last year, so Surratt knows how to prepare his team for a hard-fought battle.
"We know how talented they are and how fast they are if we let them get going," said Coach Surratt "We're not going to catch them, so we have to get them on the ground in space and then offensively, we got to kind of stay balanced."
Kickoff is set for Friday at 7:30 p.m.