The Ashville Bulldogs area ready to take on the St. Clair Saints Friday and coach James “Bubba” Walls said they know the challenge that lies ahead.

“Charlie does a great job at St Clair County,” Walls said of coach Boren. “They’ve got athletes and they’ve got kids that can run in every position. They may be number one or two of the fastest teams that we play this year. They’ve got speed everywhere.”

That being said, Walls said that his team is ready to continue take on its role of playing as the smallest 4A team in the state. Ashville was upgraded to 4A last year because the school had one student over the limit for 3A.

“We’ll be prepared for St. Clair,” Walls said confidently. “It’s a work in progress and we’re taking that next step. St. Clair makes you defend the whole field, horizontally and vertically. Their running back and quarterback can run, defensively all their skill players can run. It’s going to be interesting and it’s going to be tough to beat them. But I’m worried about Ashville and how to get us better. If we can limit their big plays and if we can move the ball consistently then we’ll do well.”

Last week the Ashville Bulldogs took a tough 41-7 loss against Albertville.

“We played well in spots and we didn’t in others,” Coach Walls said. “Special teams hurt us… We need to improve on special teams.”

Both teams had 13 penalties apiece. “That’s a lot on a first ballgame,” Walls said. “But we played hard and we finally got a game on tape that we can learn from. You can’t tell be the score, but I’m encouraged. I’m a guy that sees the glass as half full. There were bright spots. If we get stuff corrected, I think we can be competitive. You hate to say that getting beat 41-7 is a good thing, but there are some positives and we can learn from that. The kids are learning a lot. I was pleased with the all around effort and our kids played hard and gave it their all.”

-Michael Mee