The season-opener of the 2007 football season at Thomson High School gets underway Friday night in the famed confines of The Brickyard, as the Bulldogs play host to Salem.
"It'll be a tough game for us, because we haven't played anybody," said Thomson Head Coach Luther Welsh.
He was referring to last week's scrimmage game, which was canceled during the opening minutes of the first quarter against Screven County's Gamecocks because of a lightening storm in Thomson.
At the time, Thomson was leading 8-0 on a fumble touchdown recovery. Game officials suspended play for an hour before making their decision to cancel the scrimmage game.
Salem, on the other hand, was able to play their scrimmage game last week, defeating Newton County High School, according to Coach Welsh, who begins his 16th season as head mentor at Thomson.
The legendary coach is now 75.
Salem is a big, physical team, he pointed out.
"Our people are not use to playing against people their size," said Coach Welsh. "We don't face people that size in practice and we don't see many teams that size during the season."
As a result, the Bulldogs are going to have their hands full.
"It's going to be a tough game," added Coach Welsh. "We'll find out right quick what kind of team we have."
Some of Salem's players are tall, standing between 6-3 and 6-4 and weighing between 275 and 300 lbs., said Coach Welsh.
"That's pretty good size players," he noted.
Coach Welsh said the Bulldogs plan to counter Salem's size by making good tackles and with their quickness.
"We've got to stay down and block at the knees," said Coach Welsh. "If we try to block them up in the chest, it's all over for us."
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
