After a two-week break, the North Moore High football squad returns to the gridiron tonight with a home game against Red Springs.

“We gave the players a few days off, and then this week we got hit by the weather,” Mustang coach Greg Simmons said, “so even though we had a bye week, we probably didn’t get as much work in as usual. But we needed to get some rest. We were a little banged up, and now we are fresh and ready to go.”

Red Springs enters the nonconference clash sporting a 2-0 record. The 1-A school from Hoke County defeated Granville Central 41-13 and West Bladen 44-21.

Simmons took the opportunity to scout the Red Devils last Friday and came away impressed.

“They are a pretty good football team, fast with lots of athletes,” Simmons said. “They run an uptempo, no-huddle offense.

“On defense, they have big strong kids up front, speed on the edges and they swarm to the ball carrier.”

On offense, Simmons pointed to sophomore quarterback Blake Green and tailback Xavier McEachern as threats to take it to pay dirt on any given play.

“Defensively, we’ll have to keep up with their tempo,” Simmons said. “We can’t get caught by their no-huddle offense. We’re going to have to wrap up when we hit them.”

North Moore started the season with a 50-0 loss to Union Academy, then followed that with a 48-13 loss to cross-county rival Union Pines. But Simmons focused on the second-half effort of his team’s loss to the Vikings as a building block for this week’s game.

“We’ll do what we do,” Simmons said. “We’ll pound at Red Springs and carry on from the second half of our last game.”

Most of the pounding will be provided by Mustang running back Darius Green and quarterbacks Xavier Richardson and Luke Auman.

In the second half against the Vikings, Auman converted two touchdown passes, including a 17-yarder to Green and a 19-yard toss to Billy Person.

With injuries to starting safeties Landon Auman and Michael McNeal, the Mustangs are forced to use many players both ways, including Luke Auman and Richardson. That is one reason the two rotate at quarterback, Simmons said.

Simmons knows the Mustangs are fighting an uphill battle, but he also knows his young charges are willing to get out there and fight.

“We have to limit mistakes,” he said, “and maybe something will break for us. We’ll just play our game.”