SportsZone Football Friday Game of the Week Preview: Camdenton at Battle

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

For the first time since the 2014 season, Battle is set to meet Camdenton on the gridiron. The Spartans are welcoming the Lakers, the newest member of the Central Missouri Activities Conference (CMAC), to Battle High School on Friday night for the first-ever conference battle between the two programs.

The Lakers and Spartans are our SportsZone Football Friday Game of the Week. You can watch the game live over the air channel 17.3 on KZOU. 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

Both Battle and Camdenton are entering Friday's contest following Week 4 losses, but one of the two teams is still searching for their first win of the season. Battle head coach Matthew Herman's crew has an 0-4 record after falling to Hickman by 14 points last week. Herman's message to his team is they've got to compete for all four quarters to break out of their losing skid.

"It's four losses right now that we're trying to get out of our system and really two tough ones that we really should have had a handle on and should've won. Those are games that we got to make sure we respond with and play well and play all four quarters," Herman said. "For us, we just got to execute and play four quarters. That's what it's about. It's the details in the classroom, in the school and on the football field."

On the opposite sideline, Camdenton head coach Par Pitts has led his team to a .500 start to the season, entering Week 5 with a 2-2 overall record. The Lakers' two victories were in dominating fashion, winning by an average of nearly 29 points per game. However, both of Camdenton's losses were suffered against undefeated programs who won the matchup comfortably. Most recently, Helias defeated the Lakers by 30 points, but despite the two lopsided losses, Pitts is pleased with where his team is at, aiming to rebound in Week 5 on the road.

"I feel like we're giving good effort. Last week, we played a good half against Helias, and in the second half, we sort of ran out of gas. It's kind of been a tale of two seasons. Our two victories, we played well, and we're really clicking on both sides of the ball, but in our two losses, we struggled in the red zone and we haven't stopped the run very well. So, we know we have to get better at that, scoring in the red zone and being effective at limiting teams' run opportunities," Pitts said.

Camdenton is in the midst of its first season as a member of the CMAC. The Lakers posted their first-ever win in CMAC play in Week 1 against Jefferson City, and now, they are entering the heart of their conference season, facing four more CMAC opponents in four straight weeks. Joining the Central Missouri Activities Conference has required some adjusting, but Camdenton's addition has added another talented team into the mix of seven other proud programs.

"We knew it was going to be competitive. There's so many football state championships in the programs that are in the CMAC, so we knew it was going to be competitive and we knew it was going to be physical," Pitts said. "One of the challenges is you start at ground zero each week because you haven't watched their junior varsity or their freshmen. We've seen some middle school games, but you kind of have to get to know the programs. Every week, we're starting to formulate that game plan and trying to figure out the personality of each of the programs."

"You talk about a conference that already has guys that can play, and then, you bring in [Camdenton] and their system of offense and defense. It just shows that this conference is deep, and these guys can all compete. They were on a streak for awhile where they were just winning or in the [district] championship game every year, and so, it just adds more talent, more good coaching and another good program that highlights our conference," Herman said.

Both teams will be seeking bounce back wins when kickoff arrives, and Coach Herman and Coach Pitts both have game plans in mind to accomplish that goal.

"We got to be able to execute for four quarters," Herman said. "If we do that, then we'll be in every ballgame or win every ballgame, but we have to make sure we execute for four quarters. I think we have the talent to do that, so I don't think that's the issue. It's more, can we do it? Will we do it? Can we continue to coach it up to make sure we have the right pieces in play to make sure it happens?"

"We have to slow down [Battle's] run game and not give up any dynamic plays in the run game. Then, we can kind of set everything up to be able to stop their deeper passing game because both of those are really dangerous from that standpoint," Pitts said. "We, on the other hand, have to be able to run the football to sort of help our passing game, and so, that's going to be a key is being able to effectively run the football to get in good down-and-distance situations so we can hopefully stretch the field in the passing game."

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.