SportsZone Football Friday Game of the Week Preview: Rock Bridge at Battle

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A pair of CMAC rivals are preparing to play under the Friday night lights for some city bragging rights. Rock Bridge (5-1) is beginning its streak of back-to-back crosstown showdowns with a trip to Battle (0-6) in Week 7 of the high school football season.

The Bruins 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

Since losing its season opener, Rock Bridge has strung together five consecutive wins, including a flawless 5-0 record against CMAC opponents. The Bruins are currently sitting in first place in the conference standings and are just two wins away from completing a perfect CMAC slate. Despite the winning streak and averaging around 41 points per game with its high-powered offense, head coach Matt Perkins believes his team has still not reached its full potential.

"At the end of the day, we're not quite where we want to be in a lot of areas on the field, and so, I'm happy with the five wins in a row. I would have loved for it to be six in a row but we're in a lot of really close games, and so, we're a play here or a play there away from losing a couple more games or winning another game," Perkins said. "Explosive plays are really big right now. I think we're averaging 11 yards per pass attempt, which is pretty incredible. Defensively, it's good right now. We're without one of our defensive tackles, and so, we're kind of playing through playing some younger guys. I think we got a couple sophomores that are starting on the defensive line. We've been able to do that and perform well or well enough, and so, getting those guys experience is really good, and then, your playmakers are making plays."

On the opposite sideline, Battle is still searching for its first victory of the season, following its winless start through the first six weeks of the 2024 campaign. The Spartans posted their closest finish of the season in Week 6, falling by just three points to Smith-Cotton at home. In its last three games, Battle has lost by an average of just 12 points per game, and head coach Matthew Herman believes his team is close to breaking out of its slump.

"We got guys that are sticking around here that are committed that want to be a part of this and get this thing turned around right now, and that's important for our guys and we appreciate the work they are putting in right now," Herman said. "It's not a place any of us want to be, and we've gone through some things and we've talked a bunch amongst ourselves about who we are and where we want to be and what we need to keep doing and what we need to change and our guys are putting one foot forward every single day and working their butts off."

Both teams might have had significantly different starts to their seasons, but records often become irrelevant in crosstown rivalries like this one. Many student-athletes on both sidelines have played on the same team or against each other since youth football, which adds even more motivation to prepare, practice and play to claim bragging rights for their school.

"Every time you play Hickman or Rock Bridge and you're at Battle High School, it's a heightened week. Guys bring the energy. Guys bring the juice, as we call it, and they're more focused and ready to go, and it's no different this week," Herman said.

"It's a big deal because the kids know each other, and so, maybe they've played on CYFL teams together or they've competed in something across town against the same people year-in and year-out. There's a little rapport there that they've got with one another. Bragging rights start when you're really young," Perkins said. "I think our kids are really excited about this one and about next week with Hickman. You get a chance to go out and see who the top team in Columbia is, and that's a lot of fun."

With Friday's game on the horizon, both teams have crafted a game plan for how they can walk away from Battle High School with a victory in Week 7.

"Week-in and week-out, I say it's protecting Brady [Davidson]. I don't feel like we did that as well as we needed to last week. I left the game feeling like, offensively, we left some things out there that we could have had," Perkins said. "I think our best is yet to come, and hopefully, we'll put it together this week."

"For us, it's being detail-oriented throughout the week and throughout the game, make sure we're aligned correctly, being consistent in everything we do and value every rep and take care of the football and take care of our assignments," Herman said.

Kickoff for Friday night's CMAC showdown is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Battle High School.