KINGDOM CITY, Mo. - With a pivotal district game looming, the North Callaway Thunderbirds don't have time to dwell.
North Callaway will be looking to bounce back quickly after last week's crushing 66-6 conference loss at South Callaway when the Thunderbirds host Clopton/Elsberry tonight in an Eastern Missouri Conference matchup. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Notably, tonight's contest will affect positioning in the Class 2, District 6 standings. North Callaway (3-3, 2-2 Eastern Missouri Conference) sits in third place with 33.6 points, while Clopton/Elsberry (1-3 EMO) - sixth with 30 points - is among a trio of 3-3 teams that are closely shadowing the Thunderbirds.
"We have to play well on Friday, because it is an important game for our seeding," North Callaway head coach Kevin O'Neal said Tuesday afternoon. "We want to be up there in that top four so that we can have a home game in the first round."
If anything, O'Neal believes the Callaway Cup loss to state-ranked South Callaway will bolster the bond between his players after the team met on Sunday.
"I think they were ready to move on from it," O'Neal said. "They realized that they did not play very well at all, and everybody had a part in it. It wasn't one person over anybody else.
"I took ownership of that as well. It's my fault as much as it is theirs - I didn't prepare them well enough for that game and so we kind of all talked about that and now we're ready to move on, learn from it and get better."
Clopton/Elsberry is coming off a 34-16 EMO loss at Montgomery County last week. The IndianHawks have lost two in a row and three of their last four.
Sophomore quarterback Stephen Talbert completed only 12-of-30 passes for 175 yards and was intercepted twice last week. Talbert topped Clopton/Elsberry with 86 yards rushing and a touchdown on 20 carries.
Sophomore running back Kevin Hammett also gained 44 yards and scored once in 12 attempts. Junior wide receiver Jeremey Jennewein totalled three catches for a team-high 64 yards, while sophomore wide receiver Jamon Graham led the IndianHawks with four receptions for 61 yards.
"Offensively, they're a lot like us, to be honest," O'Neal said. "They have a quarterback that runs the ball hard, they do some zone reads out of the backfield, they like to throw the ball over the middle of the field.
"They have a couple of receivers that are pretty talented ... They do a less amount of plays than what they did before and they do them very well. You can tell that they've focused in on what they're good at and try to get certain kids the ball."
North Callaway's defense has been strong all season but will also be attempting to regroup after being slashed for 423 total yards and surrendering scores on seven of South Callaway's eight first-half series.
"We have to play assignment football," O'Neal said. "Friday night, we did not play assignment football; after we gave up some touchdowns early, then everybody tried to do something that wasn't their assignment.
"Our focus this week is to get back to the basics, do what we do and do it well. We're going to go very basic up front, we're going to execute our assignments and then we'll add a couple of little twists here and there if we need to."
Clopton/Elsberry's defense, meanwhile, is built around a behemoth - 6-foot-4, 255-pound senior noseguard Alex Black.
"We're really concerned about their defensive line, especially (Black)," O'Neal said. "We've got to make sure that we control the line of scrimmage. If our five guys aren't playing well up front, we're not going to be able to do anything offensively."
O'Neal wants to see the Thunderbirds ratchet up their tempo on the offensive side after managing only 163 total yards last week, including just 32 in the first half. North Callaway committed five turnovers, including two that resulted in South Callaway defensive touchdowns and two others that set up scores by the Bulldogs.
"For us, it's the speed of our offense," O'Neal said. "I thought we played really slow Friday night, so I think we need to really work on timing, hitting the holes hard, running the ball hard, running our routes hard, getting the football out on time."
North Callaway hosts Clopton/Elsberry - Updates on Twitter: @FultonSunSports