Brentwood Football Could Turn the Corner in Cuba

The , sitting at 2-2, are looking for their first road win. The trip to Cuba, MO, on Friday, could be their ticket to a winning record.

Cuba will be the second young team in as many weeks for the Eagles. There are only seven seniors on the 49-slot Wildcats' roster.

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We have a lot of “first-year guys that have never played before,” Cuba coach Jim Wolfe said. “I feel like we’re improving every week, but we’re still learning to play the game.”

Cuba is 0-4, but the young squad has had tough competition in those games. “We’ve played four really good teams - probably four playoff teams,” Wolfe said. “We just played South Callaway this week, ranked ninth in the state in Class 2."

The closest Cuba has come to winning in those four games is 27 points.

The Wildcats' offense is a double tight, double wing. “Kind of a full-house backfield kind of offense,” Wolfe said. “We probably run the ball 80 percent of the time.”

Cuba sophomore Austin Burlage had 132 yards rushing last week. “We’re doing good things, but we’re still learning to play offense and defense, and not get penalties,” Wolfe said. Junior Kaleb Cason starts at quarterback.

He said his guys do a good job of getting four to six yards in a play, and usually don’t have many plays for a loss, but lack “that big play ability where we can outrun people when we get out in open fields.”

Brentwood coach Keith Herring has watched tape on Cuba and said the Wildcats' offense is similar to the Eagles. “I think we might have the edge in speed. Size-wise we look pretty similar,” he said.

The junior varsity squad played much of last week’s game, a , so the Eagles are in good shape.

Herring said his younger guys are growing up a bit. They had a rough start to the season against and .

Momentum is building through the week’s practices. It started slowly on Tuesday, then picked up, and they topped it on Wednesday.

“When we’re rocking on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, that means we’re having a good week of practice,” Herring said.

Brentwood beat Cuba at home last year in a . The Eagles scored their touchdown with 24 seconds left on the clock, so the guys who were there will have some motivation to win.

Cuba’s best returning player, though, senior Jacob Starks, has endured some injury problems. He was hurt in week one, and then again in week three, and may be out for the rest of the season.

“Good kid, hard worker, just had a bad run of luck the past few weeks,” Wolfe said.

On Friday night, Cuba will hope to change its run of bad luck, while Brentwood will hope to continue its winning streak.

The game time is slated for 7 p.m. at Cuba.