By Robert Hudson

The Selma Times-Journal

While Southside High School’s season opener against rival Selma High was technically a road game, the Panthers won’t face their first true road challenge until Friday night, when they’ll travel to West Blocton.

The Panthers (0-2, 0-1) will travel to West Blocton High School Friday night at 7 p.m. for a region contest. Southside head football coach Bertrum Crum said his team is trying to rebound from last Friday night’s 48-7 home loss against Greene County — a game in which they only trailed 12-7 at halftime.

“We’ve been trying to work on sustaining the intensity for the full 48 minutes instead of one half,” Crum said. “I told our guys that it’s not enough to want to win, but we have to sustain the effort it takes to win for the full duration of the game.”

Crum said he’s trying to instill an all-for-one mentality as his team hits the road on Friday night.

“We’re basically just trying to get them to realize and focus in on the fact that it’s us against the world,” Crum said. “We just have to focus on our team and our individual jobs.”

Crum said West Blocton will pose a tall challenge for his team.

“They’re a very disciplined team and they’re fundamentally sound in their technique,” Crum said.

Crum said his team will have to be aggressive in order to win the game.

“I think we’re going to have to take the fight to them instead of waiting on them to bring the fight to us,” Crum said. “We have to be aggressive and initiate the action.”

After playing three different quarterbacks against Greene County, Crum said he’ll go with whichever quarterback fits the pace of the game.

“It just depends on the flow of the game and how each of the quarterbacks is doing,” Crum said.

“If he’s doing pretty good and seems to have good command of the game, he’ll play. If not, we’ll play somebody else.”