SportsZone Football Friday game of the week preview: Rock Bridge vs. Hickman

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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Hickman Kewpies and the Rock Bridge Bruins will meet in the 2021 edition of the annual Providence Bowl on Friday night.

You can watch the game live on KZOU over the air channel 17.3 at 7 p.m. Here is a look at other local listings:

• DirecTV - channel 18
• Dish Network - channel 32
• Mediacom - channel 12, 709
• Centurylink - channel 12
• Spectrum - channel 183

Hickman will be looking for its first win over Rock Bridge since the 2012 state tournament, while head coach Cedric Alvis will look for his first-career win in the rivalry game.

"If you're above a certain age, these are the schools that you grew up playing. These are the two schools that you grew up seeing," Alvis said. "There's a lot of fond memories for a certain age group and I think just looking back and just being fortunate to continue to be a part of it is fun. It's always exciting."

Alvis added that he doesn't really have to amp up his guys for the Providence Bowl, as the game does that itself.

"Show up and roll out a ball, let's go," he said.

The Kewpies come into the matchup off of a 30-point loss to top-ranked Raymore-Peculiar in week seven. Overall, Hickman is 2-5 through the season, however, the group continues to show a lot of potential.

"At the end of the day, we got some young guys that are really excited and really want to make some play," Alvis said. "Youth wise, our young guys are really progressing and they are really getting better. It's just a matter of being consistent, being able to make sure we can play a full game. Our young guys who we kind of didn't know, were questions marks coming into the season - we're playing quite a few sophomores - those young guys are play makers for us. They are going to be good."

Rock Bridge also comes into the Providence Bowl with a younger team who is trying to get back into the win column, following three straight losses.

"There's ups and downs and we talked about that," head coach Van Vanatta said. "The season isn't over. I mean, we got three games. We can either decide to turn the page or we can, you know, continue to do what we're doing. Our best quote of the week is, you know, 'the definition of insanity is trying to do the same thing and expecting the same results.' We're just not getting that, so we're trying to change that. You know, don't expect to win and that's what we've been trying to do."

Vanatta also said he doesn't have to say much to his team about this rivalry game, as they are well aware of how big it truly is. However, he said right now the goal continues to be to just win a football game.

"I mean, the Providence Bowl gets mentioned a lot. The kids know what it is, you hear people talk about it. They know what it is. But, the problem is that we've had a lot of success over the last few years and that is kind of what I'm worried about, is that they're thinking 'oh we've done this, we've done that.' But again, as I explained to them, that was totally different teams over the last few years. This is our team this year. This is what matters, nothing else does," he said.

Rock Bridge and Hickman will kick off at 7 p.m. in Alumni Stadium at Hickman High School.