Musketeers look to make history

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Chris Slone

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The Greenup County Musketeers have had less than desirable results when making the trek to Henry R. Evan Stadium. In fact, Greenup County has never beaten Russell on the road.

However, the Musketeers best opportunity in the last decade might occur Saturday night.

“We are certainly in better shape than we’ve been in the past,” Musketeers coach Chris Mullins said. “We have more depth than we’ve had in the past. We’ve addressed those things that we feel like have caused us to lose those close games. Now it’s going to be about making sure we have the right mentality and the confidence going in.

“All we ever ask is to give our team a chance in any football game. If we execute our plan and have a chance in the fourth quarter, then hopefully the ball will bounce our way for a change and we’ll be able to make history.”

Last year, Greenup County (1-0) dropped a home contest 15-12 to Russell, which Mullins contributed in part to a considerable depth discrepancy between both squads.

“They have a lot of depth and they can put more guys on the field then we can,” Mullins said. “We have to be in great physical condition in order to hang in and that’s why we lost this game the last two years in the fourth quarter. We’ve been a little bit more tired and made some mistakes at the end.”

The other disadvantage between both squads in years past has been at the skilled positions, which might not be the case Saturday.

“We have some great skill players, no doubt,” Mullins said. “We have as many skills players as they do but they still have a distinct size advantage.”

Size is a disadvantage the Musketeers won’t be able to prepare for ahead of their matchup with the Red Devils. Greenup County only has two of its five offensive lineman weighting in over 200 pounds. In contrast, Russell has 26 players on its roster who are listed over 200 pounds.

“There bigger and stronger up front,” Mullins said. “We’re small. It certainly doesn’t take away from our aggressiveness or the way that we execute. But Sometimes that poses problems trying to move bigger people around. So that’s where there advantage is.”

To combat the size difference, Mullins plans on unveiling more of his passing game.

“We spent a lot of time on the passing game,” Mullins said. “It’s something that has been a work in progress the past four years, this being the fifth. We have to be successful.

“We need to be able to execute our screen game. The passing game opens up some many things and when you’re playing teams that are bigger than you, that might have more athletes and more depth than you, those are ways to put points on the board.”

Reach Chris Slone at 740-353-3101, ext 1930, or on Twitter @crslone.

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