WATERTOWN – It’s been a season filled with ups and downs for the Watertown-Mayer football team. After starting their season with a victory against Rockford, the Royals have lost four straight games entering Week 6 of the high school football season.
The Royals, who are 1-4 on the season, will host the Litchfield Dragons in what will most likely be their final home game of the season Friday night.
Despite a season filled with ups and downs, there’s no doubt the Royals, a team filled with seniors, will be looking for a win for their homecoming game and final game at home.
“It’s our last football game at home most likely for our seniors this Friday,” Royals coach Nick Urban said. “It’s homecoming and the last home game for our seniors. That’s a pretty big motivator when you have 14 seniors on your football team.”
The Royals are coming off a 34-14 loss to Annandale last week in a game which they struggled on both sides of the ball early on. If the Royals want to send off their seniors with a win at home this week, a quick start will be needed.
“It’s really important,” Urban said about getting off to a fast start against Litchfield. “It’s important that the defense goes out there ready. They’ve done a really good job in that first series getting off the field. We’ve scored on our first drive quite a bit this season. It’s important that we get back to executing early on and making sure that the kids are prepared so that we can be successful. Getting a good start is really an important thing for us.”
The Dragons come into the matchup in a similar position as the Royals. Like Watertown-Mayer, the Dragons come into the game on a four-game losing streak after wining their season opener.
Although the struggles are evident for the Dragons, Urban knows that they are a much better team their record shows playing in a tough district.
“They’ve had some up and downs there,” Urban said. “I think they are a better football team than their record indicates. Watching them on film, they’re better than a 1-4 football team. They’ve played some really good games and really close ones with some good football teams. It will be interesting to see how we respond because I think Litchfield is not 1-4. We have to be ready to match that. They’re a physical football team, so we got to be ready to match that.”
The Royals will be looking to put together a complete game like they did in Week 1 against Rockford, something Urban knows his team is capable of despite the tough stretch.
“There have been games where we have played well the whole game and we just didn’t have that little bit at the end,” Urban said. “I think those guys see they have the ability to be better than a 1-4 football team and how we match up. We have three games down the stretch here left to make some positive things going into the playoffs. We’re really trying to get ourselves focused and be really competitive and win some football games here at the end of the season. Those opportunities are there for us.”