SportsZone Football Friday game of the week preview: Hannibal vs. Battle

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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Battle Spartans will look to hand Hannibal its first loss in the final game of the regular season 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

The Spartans are coming into the matchup off of a high-scoring loss to Jefferson City in week eight. Head coach Jonah Dubinski said he was impressed with how his offense performed in that game, despite what was on the scoreboard.

"Defense, especially, they've performed really well all season and for the first time they really struggled," he said. "Offensively, first and foremost, the run game, we've been building it throughout the year, came out and exploded. 335 yards on the ground is - that's an awesome night. Garrett Murray, Rickie Dunn did a great job."

The first-year head coach added that throughout the season he's season he's seen more and more fight in his team.

"As our younger players get more mature with reps, game expereince, they start to really understand their capabilities in comparison to our opponents," Dubinski said. "They start to understand what they do really well and really what they can do. We got a bunch of guys that can impose their will, but that's a conscious decision. You've go to first be aware of what you can do and then you've got to choose, every snap, to go do it."

Hannibal will roll into Columbia with an undefeated record, 8-0 overall, this season, as the Pirates have put up two shutouts and scored more than 50 points in four games this season. Dubinski said the key to stopping the Pirates' attack is to stick to the basics.

"Really it's going to come down to tackling. They've got some phenomenal players. They are a really disciplined, hard-nosed football team. It's just going to be about gang tackling, playing with high effort, and being gap-sound," he said. "Defensive football is fairly simple. You've got to stay in your gap and then when it's your turn to make the play, you've got to make it."

Although a win over the third-ranked team would obviously be a big boost in momentum heading into the postseason, Dubinski said his guys see it just like any other week.

"It's another opponent," he said. "Obviously, it's a very good opponent, but it's really just about going out and executing and worrying about ourselves."

Hannibal and Battle will kick off at 7 p.m. in Columbia.