SPRINGFIELD — Effingham County’s football team will open the Region 2-AAAAAA portion of its schedule at home Friday night against Bradwell Institute.

The Rebels, coming off a bye week, found the break to be beneficial as they needed to rest up. Counting their scrimmage game, Effingham County had played seven consecutive games. It also worked tirelessly all summer.

“We’ve gone since July without a break (and) being physical,” Rebels coach Buddy Holder said. “We had some guys banged up that we needed to get healthy. It came at a good time.”

And this week will feel like the start of a new season and a new test. Although the Tigers are 2-4, they boast South Carolina commit Kevin Harris.

“They have a really good running back,” Holder saod. “They do a really good job with their RPOs (run-pass options) off of his run fake. Just tackling him is enough trouble but being able to be disciplined and get underneath RPO throws is going to put us in a situation where our kids have to pay attention.”

Harris will present a challenge for Effingham County  but the Rebels are only giving up 14 points a game in an alignment that is different from what they played in years past..

“The kids have a good grasp and (our coaches) are doing a good job teaching it,” Holder said. “It’s fun to play in the 3-3 stack that we run because there’s a lot you can do. They seem to be having a good go with it right now.”

Starting quarterback Jerid Stokes has thrown for 450 yards and has several targets at his disposal. With some of the receiving corps being inexperienced and new, it’s taking some time for everyone to gel.

“It’s been kind of a thing with those guys where they are trying to get their rhythm together and last week we had a really good week in practice where we feel like we came a long way with that,” Holder said. “The guys around (Stokes) are working real hard to get that rhythm together. Things are in good shape.”

See the Oct 3 edition of the Effingham Herald for more details.