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More than just another football game

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One football team is gearing up for the playoffs. The other is wrapping up its season.

Neither team is overlooking Friday’s game.

Western Hills (6-3) will be hosting Franklin County (1-8) Friday in the regular-season finale for both teams. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

“This is a rivalry game for our team,” FCHS coach Aaron Stepp said. “Like I said last week, under normal circumstances if we were getting ready for the playoffs I don’t want to play a rivalry game.

“This year we’re not going to the playoffs,” he added, “so this is probably the best time to play them. Practice is going real well. The kids have a great attitude, and they’re doing what we ask them to do. I’d rather play them than any other team since we’re not in the playoffs.”

In addition to being a rivalry game, the Flyers also have the revenge factor going into Friday’s game. Western Hills defeated FCHS 29-10 last season for the Wolverines’ first win over the Flyers in six years.

“This is my first experience with the rivalry,” Stepp said. “I know it can be a heated rivalry, but I don’t want to see that. I hope it’s a healthy rivalry.

“At the end of the game these players have played in youth leagues together, they know each other,” he added. “A healthy rivalry is really good, a heated one not so much.”

The Wolverines, who will host Elizabethtown in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs next week, also have more than the rivalry on their minds.

“We have the opportunity to have the best season in school history at 7-3,” WHHS coach Don Miller said. “The players seem focused and everything. We’re trying to keep them looking at Franklin County. A few may be looking ahead to E-town, but it’s our job as a coaching staff to keep them focused on Franklin County this week.”

And that includes focusing on more than the Flyers’ record.

“They’re a good team,” Miller said. “When I look at them they resemble my first and second years here at Western Hills when I didn’t have a lot of seniors to go along with the younger players.

“They have a good, solid defense,” he added, “and they do a lot of different things on offense. I think they’re trying to find their identity offensively.”

“They do a good job on offense and defense,” Stepp said. “The (Justin) Wright kid is a hard runner, and they have Dylan (Curry) at quarterback, and he’s a Division I player.

“He’s probably the only other Division I player we’ve seen other than in the Lafayette game with the (Eric) Shaw kid,” he added. “Curry will give us problems with his size and his ability to throw the football, and he has a really good counterpart in the Wright kid for running. They’re fairly balanced.”

Both teams are relatively healthy going into Friday’s game, suffering from the bumps and bruises that come this time of the season. 

Western Hills’ Justin Perry, who sat out last week’s game after suffering a concussion at Henry County, will be back in action Friday.

“We’re both Franklin County public schools, so we share that bond,” Stepp said. “Let’s just play hard, see what happens, and may the best team win.”

FRANKFORT HIGH

Friday night is ‘Pink Out’

Frankfort High’s football team is having a “Pink Out” for breast cancer awareness Friday at its game against Danville.

The Panthers are asking all fans who attend Friday’s game to wear pink.

Last week the Panthers wore pink socks and pink spats on their shoes in honor of breast cancer awareness, and the FHS coaching staff wore pink sweatshirts. They’ll be doing the same this week.

 Friday’s game will be played at Sower Field beginning at 7:30 p.m.