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OAKLAND, Md. -- After starting the season with a long trip a couple weeks back, the Madonna football team has another one on Friday night.
Coming off a big first victory of its season in the home opener last week, the Blue Dons head to Oakland, Maryland to take on the Southern Rams on Friday night.
"It's definitely another long trip, but they're kind of about the same size as us," Madonna head coach Shawn McKInnon said of the Rams (0-1). "They're a little bit bigger of a school, but they have different rules in Maryland. They can only dress the varsity group, so they're at about 25 players and comparable to us in roster size.
"The biggest challenge is there isn't much familiarity. You don't really know the kids, you don't know the area, or really the teams that they play. They do play a couple West Virginia teams, but they're way downstate. So, it could be a challenge getting the kids excited to go at it compared to if you're playing someone local or a team that's closer where the kids know the other kids or the community. then obviously, the travel time can be a challenge, but I think we learned from Week 1 and I think they're excited now that we got a win under our belt to try to keep this thing rolling and moving forward."
McKinnon said the Blue Dons 41-0 victory over Van last week really jolted the program with some energy headed into the week.
"It's great, the kids were super excited, parents were really excited, the community is really excited," McKinnon said. "I know a lot of the kids celebrated over the long weekend. I gave them the day off (Monday) for Labor Day, and I think they're excited and ready to go to Southern and try to get another big win."
The Rams dropped their opening game last week to Mountain Ridge (Md.) 58-9.
"They're physical, they're well coached. They've taken their licks the last couple years. They're starting to come up a little bit," McKinnon said. "They finally put some wins on the board last season. They run a wing-T offense and they want to try to run it right at you. They do a little bit of misdirection in the backfield to try to get your eyes in the wrong spot, and then kind of trick you a little bit. Defensively, it looks like they run a 4-2-5 or a 4-3. And again, they're physical up front.
"I think our biggest thing this week is to kind of ride our tailback. (Thomas Davidson), he's almost at 400 yards in two games, so I think we're going to start to try to lean on him a little bit more and let him carry us as far as he can.
"So our goal is to just go down there and match their physicality and try to come out with another win and come home 2-1."
Davidson is at 391 yards and six touchdowns in two games for the Dons, averaging more than 17 yards per carry.
The opening kick Friday in the Old Line State is set for 6:30 p.m.