Hough football players warmed up before practice on Tuesday. (Barry Pulver/DavidsonNews.net)

Bobby Collins

CORNELIUS – Hough High’s football team sits in the top spot in the I-Meck 4A Conference football standings with its final away game this Friday night in Mooresville against Lake Norman. The Huskies are looking to improve on their 8-1 overall record for the season, and to stay unbeaten on the road.

Head Coach Bobby Collins sees the latter as a particularly impressive achievement. “I’m proud of our young men, it’s tough to go into a hostile environment and win,” he said. “I think we’re in the best football conference in the state of North Carolina, so to be able to get all those wins on the road is pretty impressive and show’s a lot of character of the young men.”

LISTEN to the whole audio interview with Head Coach Bobby Collins below.

Coach Collins is glad to see the hard work in training turning into results.

“I’m just excited for the kids with all the hard work paying off for them right now,” he said.

The Huskies are in only their third season since the school opened, and it’s by far their most successful. Coach Collins said that’s in no small part due to leadership from senior offensive players and “leaders at all stages of the defense.”

With Hough averaging 2.6 sacks a game on defense, quarterback Josh Stilley averaging 171.4 passing yards per game, and the team averaging 339 total yards, the Huskies are favored to continue their winning streak Friday night.

SHOWING CHARACTER

Last week’s trip to Mooresville saw Hough down 14-0 in the second quarter and Coach Collins believes that game showed the Huskies’ character. He was thankful for the fan support stating “we have a really good fortunate school with great kids and good parents.” (See Oct. 13, 2012, “Huskies score 38 straight to overcome Mooresville, 38-14″

So how does the coach look to start off this week’s game, back in Mooresville against Lake Norman? “We don’t need to be in the hole by 14 points,” he joked. The plan will be to “start off the game by getting to the end zone on offense and playing solid defense.”

Lake Norman is 4-5 overall, 2-3 in the I-Meck 4A, but Collins shows a lot of respect for Friday’s opposition.

“Lake Norman football team will be really well coached, those kids play hard, they respect coach McNeely a lot, he has a really good game plan, so I think it will be a really good football game.”

TOP 1000 IN THE NATION

Here’s a tidbit that even Coach Collins didn’t know: Hough High is currently ranked No. 986 in the nationwide high school football rankings. They’ll be looking to improve their spot on Friday.

WANT TO GO?

Hough plays Friday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Lake Norman High, 189 Doolie Rd, Mooresville.

AUDIO: Interview with Coach Collins

Listen to Barry Pulver’s audio interview with Coach Bobby Collins. Click the play button to start. Can’t see the player or hear the audio? CLICK HERE>

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(MP3, 3 mins., 54 sec)