SLAYTON -- It was a tough start for both teams.
But in tonight's Little Sioux Conference football game, both Adrian and Murray County Central are searching for their first win of the young season.
MCC lost to Lakeview, 14-6 in the opener last week.
Adrian suffered a home loss to open the season last Thursday.
"We weren't pleased," Adrian head coach Randy Strand said. "I think we kind of helped ourselves get beat. We had a lot of mistakes and our special teams kind of let us down. Defensively, we didn't really do what we had to, we gave them the ball in a short field a couple of times and that kind of cost us. Those are things that we can hopefully get fixed."
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The Dragons lost 49-12 to Minneota -- the same team Adrian fell to in last year's state final.
"How often does that happen, a team you played in the state championship, you open up with the next year?" Strand asked. "That was kind of neat. For the most part, it's just another game. Unfortunately it was a conference game for us, so we're 0-1 in the conference and 0-1 on the season. We have some ground to make up."
But now, the two teams must regroup in an effort to make up ground in a very tough conference.
One key for the Dragons will be to stop MCC's quarterback, Chris Halbur.
"They have a pretty good quarterback," Strand said. "We feel that we have to contain him and keep him in our sights. Hopefully we can handle that. It's a big rivalry, we've battled over the years. Hopefully we can get the job done this week."
The two teams played in last year's Section 3A final, a game which Adrian won 14-0. But things are different now for the Rebels.
"From what we've seen, they have a little bit different offense," Strand said. "The past years they've always had things kind of tight, so we're going to have to deal with a little different formations and things like that. It's one of those things, it's high school football, you get ready for it and let the chips fall where they may."
In other Little Sioux action, Fulda, which rallied for a 22-18 victory against Ortonville last week, takes its 1-0 record on the road against Minneota (1-0). Dawson-Boyd (1-0) travels to Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (1-0), who beat MACCRAY 36-14 a week ago.
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Windom (1-0), which won in Travis Bretzman's coaching debut, travels to Pipestone Area (0-1) in a Southwest Conference battle, while second-ranked Luverne (1-0) travels to Redwood Valley (1-0) in a battle of the Cardinals. Tenth-ranked Jackson County Central (1-0) hosts Worthington (1-0).
Edgerton/Ellsworth (1-0), which downed Alden-Conger 60-0 last week, looks to continue its winning ways when Cleveland comes to town in a Southern Confederacy tilt, while Madelia (1-0) travels to Hills-Beaver Creek (1-0), which defeated Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 45-13 last Thursday. Westbrook-Walnut Grove (0-1) looks for its first win when Alden-Conger visits.
Cedar Mountain/Comfrey (1-0) travels to Red Rock Central, who is off a season-opening 28-23 victory against Sleepy Eye Saint Mary's week ago, in a Southern Minnesota Conference clash. Wabasso (1-0) travels to Southwestern United (0-1) in a conference game, while Springfield (1-0) visits Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin (1-0).
West Bend-Mallard (2-0) travels to Harris-Lake Park (1-1) in a District 2 8-man game in Iowa.
In Class 1A, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn travels to Sibley-Ocheyedan in a battle of 2-0 teams. The Generals defeated West Sioux 14-10 last week after an 18-0 win against Okoboji in Week 1.
In Class 2A, District 1, Central Lyon/George-Little Rock (1-1) visits Okoboji (0-2), while Sheldon (2-0) puts its perfect record on the line at Estherville Lincoln Central (1-1). The Orabs have earned victories against South O'Brien (40-6) and MOC-Floyd Valley (34-16).
