Game of the Night Preview: Opp vs Wicksburg

OPP, Ala. (WTVY) - Opp and Wicksburg have had nearly identical seasons so far, and a win this week will keep one of them undefeated in the region.

“This is a huge game for us,” said Wicksburg Head Coach Josh Cox. “We circle it every year. Opp is always a big challenge. They always have a lot of kids on the sidelines, and they’ve always got a lot of big kids. I think it’s a great matchup.”

“They are an outstanding football team and an outstanding football program,” said Opp Head Coach Mike DuBose. “You look at them offensively, defensively, special team there’s not a weakness anywhere. They are very, very welled coached. A very good, very solid football team. So, it’s a huge challenge for us but it’s also a huge opportunity for us and that’s what we look at it as.”

The Bobcats and Panthers have only lost a single game this season, and both squads quickly flipped the script after that going on a five-game winning streak.

“It’s nice to have we just know we have to compete every week, play like we’re playing for a state championship and just keep working hard,” said Opp senior Wyatt Horn.

Wicksburg sophomore Jacob Cox added, “Well coach says every week, the team we play this week is the best team we’re going to play. So, that’s just our mindset go out there and play the best game we can.”

On paper this looks to be one of the closest matchups of the season.

“Wicksburg, they’re a good team,” said Opp senior Will Spurlin. “They’re fast. They’re physical. They’re running back is pretty good, but I think that we can compare with them pretty good.”

“Opp is one of our toughest opponents in the region and it would just be big to go get that win over there,” said Cox.

“They’re a really good team,” added Horn. “They’re very physical, fast but I think we’ll be able to beat them up front and I think our athletes can compare with theirs just as good.”

“Our mindset is to not give up. We’ve just got to go out there and play as best as we can,” said Wicksburg sophomore William Wright.

The cat fight will be intense as Opp and Wicksburg battle it out to stay on top of the region another week.

“If we beat Opp at Opp I don’t know if we’ve ever done that here,” said Cox. “But it would be a huge win. It’s a big challenge uphill for us. We’re just going to try and give it everything we’ve got.”

“We’ve played fast and we’ve played physical but we haven’t played smart in a lot of cases,” added DuBose. “You know, when you get to playing teams that are really, really good like Wicksburg is you better play the game smart as well. So, good teams don’t beat themselves so we’ve got to play smart.”

Copyright 2021 WTVY. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to our News 4 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning. Get instant notifications on top stories from News 4 by downloading our mobile apps.