BRIGHTON — Coach Brian Lemons was taking no chances early in the week when asked about tonight’s game at Northville.
“We’re expecting to see a well-coached team, pretty good athletes, all of the things you look forward to seeing when you’re in the KLAA,” he said.
Bulletin boards are still bulletin boards, even in the Internet age, and the Bulldogs figure there’s no reason to rile up a Northville team that’s expected to be the best of a tough KLAA Central.
The game will be broadcast on The Livingston Post starting at 6:50 p.m.
The Mustangs are coming off a 25-20 win over Dearborn that saw their rushing game shut down, although sacks likely had a role in the minus-25 yards gained on the ground.
Brighton, meanwhile, is coming off a 14-8 win over Detroit East English which saw the Bulldogs play well in the first half, then struggle on offense in the second half.
“We were able to see how our guys competed in one-to-one matchups, and we’re pretty happy with that,” Lemons said. “The task now is keeping the kids focused on Week 2, and not living off any conclusions from our last game.”
Senior co-captain Jack Aigner says the win over a highly regarded East English team gave the team an emotional boost.
“It was a team effort on all sides,” he said. “We did a good job in preparing going into the game, and we’re taking that into this week of practice.
“Coming out 1-0 is a big confidence booster and we’re going to take that the next couple of weeks.”
“They’re a pretty good balance of run and pass,” Lemons said of Northville. “It looks like their scheme is well-coached, which will require our kids to play disciplined footbal and stick within our game plan. Missed assignments will be at a premium on both sides of the ball.
“The playing field is going to be pretty equal,” he added. “If our kids show up, play physical and play disciplined, we should be in pretty good shape.”
Three other county teams play tonight.
Howell is at South Lyon, Pinckney is at South Lyon East and Fowlerville plays host to Charlotte. All three are 1-0 after opening wins. Hartland (0-1) plays at Salem on Friday night.
