After three weeks of worrying about spread attacks and athletes galore, there is a new challenge for the Northeast Lauderdale Trojans this week. Enter the physical rushing attack of the Neshoba Central Rockets.

    “You know what you’re in for when you go play a coach (Chuck) Friend coached football team,” Northeast coach Steve Nelson said. “It’s going to be smashmouth, and you better be tough and you better be ready to stand your ground.

“We’ll just find out who the best man is Friday night.”

    Neshoba is led by O’Neil McCarty’s 243 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries, while quarterback Josh Stewart has added 206 yards and three scores on 36 attempts. Stewart has completed 5 of 12 passes for 91 yards and one touchdown, while Terrance Steele is the Rockets’ top receiving threat with two grabs for 83 yards.

    That chore of slowing down the Rockets, who enter Friday night’s tilt against the visiting Trojans at 2-1 following a 42-14 setback to rival Philadelphia last week, is further complicated by Northeast’s early slate of spread-oriented offenses. After season-opening wins against Morton and Collins, the Trojans couldn’t slow Southeast Lauderdale last week in a 33-14 loss.

    “We’re going to have to be tough and tighten our chinstraps and get ready for a good, old-fashioned smashmouth type football game. It’s just going to be a challenge for our kids and we’ll see how tough we are,” Nelson said. “Southeast was able to establish a running game against us, too.”

    The Trojans, though, have rebounded well in practice, Nelson said. Now, his goal, is to see how they respond in a game, most notably in key situations. Northeast struggled last week getting off the field in third-down situations, defensively. Meanwhile, the Trojans’ offense has scuffled all year with its red zone offense.

    “We’ve got to get better when we get on the positive side of the field,” he said. “We only punted one time against Southeast. We had too many turnovers, but we also had opportunities that were wasted by not executing.

    “The one positive is at least we’re down in that area and maybe eventually, we’ll find the right play or the right call and execute it correctly and put up some points. Sooner or later, good things will happen to us as long as we keep working hard during practice.”

    Fixing that could go a long way toward downing the Rockets.