by Fulton Hampton
Polk County (5-2 overall, 3-1 conference) takes on the Avery Vikings (2-5, 1-3) tonight for their annual homecoming game. The Wolverines are coming off a great win at Mitchell and hope to keep their conference championship chase alive with a victory tonight.
Avery won its first two games of the year but has been winless since. However, that could be a little misleading based on the Vikings’ last game with Hendersonville. Although they lost 19 – 0, the Vikings surprised most fans by holding Hendersonville to only 19 points.  Hendersonville had been putting up some impressive scoring numbers in previous games and was only up 7-0 at half time.
“I have been most impressed with their quickness on defense; they tackle very well and really get after the football,” Polk Head Coach Bruce Ollis said. “Avery makes you prepare for a lot on defense. They basically run three different offensive schemes. They have a sophomore quarterback that is a pretty talented athlete that can run very well, and [they] have a big fullback, a pounder.”
From an injury standpoint, the Wolverines were expecting to get running and defensive back Donte Poston back this week but found out he’s out for the season with the injury sustained in the Landrum game.
Ollis, although disappointed, was confident in his offense: “Tyler Jackson and Matt Darden have come in and done very well; we’ve got two guys back there that can run fast and Alec Philpott has done great job running the offense. We look forward to a big crowd, it’s always nice to see alumni back and former players. We certainly want to play well for them!”