Rutherford, PSJ seek first victory (See Player Photos)

It could be a case of one team looking back at its opener in terms of what needs to be cleaned up, and the other avoiding the negative connotation of that term.

Rutherford hosts Port St. Joe at 7 p.m. at Tommy Oliver Stadium in a matchup of teams looking for their first win of the season. The Rams lost 27-14 at Escambia in head coach Jeff Rolson’s debut at the Springfield school, and the Tiger Sharks were blown out 47-6 at home by Bay.

Rolson pointed to penalties and turnovers, namely fumbles, as helping determine the outcome in Pensacola.

(Click here to view Rutherford, PSJ player photos)

“We had a play called back past midfield, then fumbled the next play and they scored,” he said. “And with about a minute and a half left in the first half fumbled on our 12 and were down 14-0 at the half.

“I think some of our kids got a little tired. We had too many execution mistakes on offense and our defense has to be disciplined for four quarters They were the usual growing pains.”

Port St. Joe was victimized by big plays and special teams breakdowns against Bay that turned a competitive game into a rout. Coach Vern Barth knows that his young 1A team wore down against a 3A opponent, but really doesn’t see a quick fix against 3A Rutherford.

“I try to get more in, but we just don’t have that many,” Barth said.

Calvin Pryor is the Sharks’ headline player, but was unavailable during much of the fourth quarter in the opener.

“He’s OK,” Barth said. “He missed most of the week with bruised ribs, so didn’t practice and was out of shape. He couldn’t finish the game.”

Both the Rams and Sharks avoided major injuries last week. Rolson said not to expect many personnel changes tonight, nor did he sound anxious about his squad getting positive reinforcement to punctuate a new regime.

“We want to win every time we go out and we let one slip away,” he said. “With what they were giving us, we should have executed better.

“Most of our backs go both ways so we’ll try to limit their role on both sides so they have more gas in the tank. Our defensive line played better, and our secondary did a good job.”

Barth is using the nondistrict games against larger schools to help his freshmen and sophomores mature to face 1A competition. Thus far they’ve survived against larger schools Arnold during a half in a jamboree and Bay.

They’ve had their feelings bruised more than anything else, Barth said.