LOCAL SPORTS NEWS — The Moore County Raiders (1-3, 0-2) will take on the Wayne County Wildcats (1-3, 0-1) Friday night in Lynchburg in Week 6 of the 2021 high school football season. Friday’s game will be Youth Football Night and all Moore County Youth Football players, managers, and cheerleaders should wear their uniform or game attire to get in free.

Here are somethings we think you should watch for in this weeks game.

1 | The Raider offense and defense will click. Coach Kris White told his players prior to the season that they’d be surprised how things started to come together midway through the season. “We’re going to be a different team in games one through five than we are six through 10,” he told his squad. Well this is game six and we’re looking to the Raider offense and defense to start to click.

2 | Wayne County will either come out gunning or flat. It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the Wayne County Wildcats. On September 10, they suffered a 41-14 loss to Loretto but the “L” wasn’t the worst part of the game. Just before halftime, running back Timmy Robbins went airborne on a run play, hit the ground, and didn’t get back up. He was eventually airlifted the hospital. Luckily, he only suffered a concussion and a stinger to his spine but he remains out indefinitely. Then, on September 18, Wayne County’s game against Huntland got postponed due to thunderstorms. It’s been a sputtering season so far and Wayne County may be frustrated. That frustration will either turn into determination or lack of focus.

3 | The Raiders will need to stop the Wildcat ground game. According to Coach Kris White, Wayne County will come into Doug Price Field looking to run the ball. Sophomore Dawson White, senior Hayden Carter, and freshman Peyton Martin lead the Raiders in tackles. Sophomore Wes Clifton, junior Elam Brown, sophomore Logan Hegwood, senior Joseph Trice, and junior Isaiah Petty have come on strong over the past several game. The Raiders will need a complete effort tonight from all of them to shut down the Wildcat run game.

4 | The Wildcats are aggressive on defense. Despite an ankle injury last week, senior quarterback Connor Partin will be available for the Raiders this week, according to Coach White. Sophomore Keller Morey’s also had flashes of brilliance leading the Raider offense last week. Our Raider offensive line will need to be prepared to defend both.

5 | Look for Logan Hegwood to have a break out game. Logan Hegwood’s been a consistent rusher for Moore County all season but he seemed to find his rhythm against Fayetteville City last week. The sophomore pieced together a 200 yard, two touchdown game against the Tigers and we look for him to build on that success this week.

The Raiders and Wildcats face off tonight at 7 p.m. at Doug Price Field. If you can’t attend the game, you can watch live on the NFHS Network, listen live in the Moore County Sports Network app, or follow The Lynchburg Times Facebook page for live score updates. •

{The Lynchburg Times is the only independently owned and operated newspaper in Lynchburg. We cover Metro Moore County government, Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Nearest Green Distillery, Tims Ford State Park, Motlow State Community College, Moore County High School, Moore County Middle School, Lynchburg Elementary, Raider Sports, plus regional and state news.}