VERSAILLES, Mo. - Broc Silvers may not be kissing the midfield logo at the Versailles Tigers' football field tonight.
But rest assured, the Versailles head coach and the rest of the Tigers are happy to be home.
Versailles plays its first home game of the season tonight, hosting California in a Tri-County Conference game. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Versailles will be trying to snap a two-game losing skid. The Tigers come in 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the league after being shut out 36-0 by Blair Oaks last week. The California Pintos are 1-2 and 1-0 after opening conference play last week with a 33-7 win against Warsaw.
It's also a key game for early-season district positioning in Class 2 District 4, as Versailles is currently fourth in the standings with 32.34 points while California is fifth with 30.67.
Versailles will be attempting to bounce back from a 42-0 shutout defeat to the Pintos a year ago.
Both the Tigers and Pintos have seen their fair share of stiff competition so far this season. Versailles opened with three games on the road, including the last two weeks against high-octane foes Fulton and Class 3 No. 2 state-ranked Blair Oaks. California's two losses came to Missouri Class 3 state-ranked squads Monett (No. 4 in this week's poll) and Mexico (No. 7).
California is scoring an average of 16.3 points per game while allowing an average of 26.7 points. After allowing 56 points to Fulton and 36 to Blair Oaks, Versailles is allowing an average of 32.7 points while scoring at an 11.3 clip three games into 2016.
"We're ready to get off the road," Silvers said. "Now we've got back-to-back at home and are excited about that. And (California) is definitely a good opponent; they've played two ranked opponents early in the season.
"And we're excited to get our first district opponent in. It's the biggest game on the schedule for us so far; it's a bigger game than Blair Oaks because it's against a district team. And a win (tonight) will be the deciding factor in the fourth and fifth seed."
In the Pintos' win against Warsaw last week, they rushed for 268 yards, paced by junior quarterback Jacob Wolken with 125 yards. Also, junior running back Cory Friedmeyer rushed for 86 yards on 15 carries and senior fullback Sam Kirby scored a pair of touchdowns.
On the season Wolken has been a two-way threat, rushing for more than 250 yards and passing for 225 yards.
Friedmeyer is the team's leading rusher with 200 yards.
"We started out with a rough schedule in tough, bigger schools in Monett and Mexico," California coach Marty Albertson said. "Physically we got a little beat up, losing four starters. We kind of recovered for last week."
"They do a little of everything," Silvers said of California. "They run a split-back veer, the spread and even show the wishbone at times a little bit of everything. The good news for us is they're not running the spread out of the split-back look."
Last week Versailles was limited to just 96 yards of total offense, led by sophomore running back Grant Hutchison with 43 rushing yards on 15 attempts.
Sophomore end Michael Trotter, senior linebacker Gage Smith and Hutchison, a cornerback, continue to lead the Versailles defense in tackles.
"They're an improved team over last year," Albertson said of the Tigers. "Their quarterback (senior David Connor) is doing a good job; he's a good athlete who can hurt your through running or throwing. And both of their running backs run real hard.
"Defensively they like to play man-to-man in the secondary and do a lot of blitzing. And they can fire off the ball on the offensive and defensive lines. We've got to be ready for that."
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