CHARLESTON (KFSM) - Charleston is the Slim Chickens Team of the Week after a big conference win at Cedarville Friday. TheT igers ended the game on top, but it certainly didn’t start that way. Cedarville dominated the first quarter, and Ricky May's bunch had to regroup.
"We kind of went up there and didn’t really expect what we got, as far as getting hit in the mouth like we did. And the kids responded, and it turned out real well for us."
"We were just nervous to begin with, once we settled down, we showed what we were and finished the game like we should’ve," adds junior Slade Skeets.
It was a microcosm of the season for Charleston, who started the year 0-3, but are perfect since. Skeets knows the cause of the early issues.
"We had a lot of injuries, we had nine people go out in the Dardanelle game."
"It was pretty bad, we just had our heads down," admits junior Breckon Ketter.
"It was frustrating," says May, "because we didn’t have weapons on offense, and on defense we weren’t stopping anybody because of the injuries. It was like spinning your tires in the mud."
The injured players didn’t miss a beat when they returned, and the Tigers got rolling, picking up wins over Greenland and Cedarville.
"Once we got everybody back, it’s really helped everybody start putting everything together," thinks Skeets.
"The real season started week four," says May of his message to the team. "That’s kind of what we were playing for, to get everybody back that was injured."
"We just knew it would start clicking eventually," adds senior Nolan Harrington.
And a season that once felt down in the dumps has shifted, says Skeets.
"We’re through the roof, we’re just ready to play."
"I think the kids are ready," echoes May, "they’re excited, and think that they can beat anybody any Friday night."
The next chance to prove that comes Friday, when the resurgent Tigers host Mansifeld.