Senior Night festivities also planned during regular-season home finale

Looking to break the monotony of bye-week practices, Polk County head coach Jamie Thompson made an offer last week to his seniors – put together a play, using any personnel on the team at any position, bring it to practice and the team would run it at least once.

“There were a couple of good plays in there, one we might even use,” Thompson laughed. “It gave the players a chance to be creative and have some fun doing it.”

The chance to break up the normal weekly routine while also nursing some nagging injuries has left the Wolverines in good spirits heading into Friday’s regular-season home finale against Owen, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. at G.M. Tennant Stadium. Polk County will also hold Senior Night festivities prior to the game beginning at 7 p.m.

Only Hendersonville, which is off this week, and Owen, which has next week off, have later bye weeks among Western Highlands Conference schools than Polk County, which had its first free Friday night last week since early August.

“It gave us a chance to heal up,” Thompson said. “Elijah (Sutton) is better, and we had a few others with minor injuries that healed up. It was a good time for a break.

“Having two weeks to get ready for Owen is always a good thing.”

In years past, Polk County-Owen clashes have typically played an important role in settling the Western Highlands Conference regular-season champion. While that won’t be the case this season, the game still holds importance for the Wolverines (4-5, 2-2), who likely need at least one more win to put themselves in position for a playoff berth.

At 1-8, 0-5 in conference play, Owen can only hope to play the role of spoiler.

“The situation is that we’re in the same spot as last year,” Thompson said. “We’re 4-5, and we were 4-5 at this time last year. It’s eerily similar how this season has gone so far compared to last year.

“This is a game we need to win to get into the playoffs. We win this game and we pull out an upset against Hendersonville and we might be looking at a decent seed, maybe even one of the top eight in the West and a home game.”

There were smiles all over the field in the aftermath of Polk County’s 46-7 win over Avery, and those good feelings have remained through the bye week.

“We’ve had a really good two weeks,” Thompson said. “The kids may be the most spirited they’ve been all year. The kids are having a good time and we’re getting a lot out of them.”

OWEN AT POLK COUNTY

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.

Records: Owen 1-8, 0-4; Polk County 4-5, 2-2.

Series history: Polk County leads 10-2.

Last meeting: Sparked by a 99-yard touchdown drive, Polk County rolled to a 41-20 win in Swannanoa. The Wolverines rushed for 437 yards in the win.

Players to Watch: Sophomore Kendrick Weaver is the heart of Owen’s offense, having thrown for 910 yards while rushing for 181. Senior Cyrus Hooper is the team’s leading rusher with 520 yards on 143 carries. Owen lost standout Sidney Gibbs to an ACL injury before the start of the season. Weaver has three interceptions to lead the Owen defense