The Douglas football team will seek to find its way onto the scoreboard and into the win column this week, making the long trip to Spanish Springs for a 7:30 p.m. matchup tonight.
Douglas is coming off a tough 21-0 loss against No. 2 Reed last week while Spanish Springs dropped a hard-fought 21-14 battle in overtime to No. 3 North Valleys.
The Tigers had some bright spots in the loss, mostly on defense as they held the Raiders to 128 yards on the ground, putting the wraps on two of the Northern 4A's fastest players in Tony Maldonado and Jerel Clark.
That should come in handy this week as the one thing Spanish Springs has established itself on over the last three years is the running game.
Douglas will have to key on the Cougars' Cameron Longobardo, who rushed for 101 yards on 25 carries and both of Spanish Springs scores last week. Last year, Longobardo rushed for 156 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-23 win against the Tigers.
Spanish Springs has been able to make effective use of establishing multiple ball-carriers during the course of a game with its effectively tricky misdirection offense.
Last year against the Tigers, they were able to pile up 380 yards on the ground, but Douglas was able to make some important adjustments at halftime of that game, allowing just 57 rushing yards in the second half.
This week, Douglas will be looking to establish more on offense after being shut out for the first time in nearly five years last week.
The Tigers were able to move the ball against Reed and had several plays that were just inches away from going for scores, but will have to find more of a rhythm this week to get around the physical Cougar defense.
Check recordcourier.com tonight for updates throughout the game.