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Santa Fe coach Dock Pollard spoke to Sportscene host Steve Russell on Thursday about the Red Raiders’ matchup against Suwannee on Friday.
Coach Pollard reflected on Santa Fe’s 1-0 start, first.
“I absolutely like comin’ out 1-0,” he said on Santa Fe’s 22-7 win over Newberry, last week. “We had tremendous effort from all of our guys.”
While Pollard was ultimately satisfied with the result, he did mention there are improvements that need to be made heading into Friday’s game.
“The thing that we’re looking for is better execution,” he said. “I think our effort is there; if I had to pick a (place) to do better, I think we would have to execute our plays better.”
Pollard Preparing for Biggest Game of the Year
Pollard believes better execution is needed for a few reasons. First, he said it’s important to show constant improvement as the season progresses. It’s ok to have growing pains because it’s still August, but he wants to be more prepared for better opponents.
Speaking of better opponents, Pollard went on record saying Suwannee will be Santa Fe’s toughest game of the year. He detailed what makes Suwannee such a fierce opponent.
“Suwannee is Suwannee,” he said. “They’re a good football program; very disciplined. Coach Kyler Hall coaches ’em up pretty well. We’re gonna have to play our best game; this is our most important game of the year.”
Recipe for Success
In order to play its best game of the year, Pollard said Santa Fe has to resort to its strengths. In the Raiders’ case, this means running the ball.
“We’re still looking to run the ball,” Pollard said. “We’ve got a couple of guys who can run it pretty well.”
However, that doesn’t mean Santa Fe will sport a run-only attack. Pollard wants to test Suwannee’s secondary, as well.
“We look to get the ball in the air whenever we can,” he said.
But coach Pollard reiterated the ground game and defense will be the most important aspect of Santa Fe’s game plan.
“Our staple, our MO, is probably going to be hammering it between the tackles and playing good defense.”
Looking Ahead
Santa Fe and Suwannee are both 1-0 heading into Friday’s battle. Santa Fe is looking to build its momentum after a dominant 22-7 win against Newberry last week, while Suwannee is aiming to zero in on a 2-0 record, as well. Kickoff is at 7:30.
