CoGo's Feature Matchup: Allderdice vs. Carrick

Carrick won their first game of the season, 34-26, over Imani Christian while Allderdice took out defending City League champs Brashear 26-21.

Allderdice hopes to build off the win and turn it into a City League Championship.

“What we did was change our quarterback around and we took James [Jackson] out of quarterback and put him to wide receiver and put Dajuan [Dugger] in, who’s one of the bigger things that’s going to help us," explained Allderdice head coach Jerry Haslett. "Because now we have two serious threats on the outside.”

Those two serious threats from Allderdice are the Jackson twins - James and his brother Tim.

“They’ve got great hand eye coordination, they’ve got really good speed, they have great hands," Haslett said. "They lead by example. They don’t talk very much. But they lead by example and hopefully the kids follow suit."

Allderdice also has star players in Dugger and junior Jeremiah Doswell-Hardrick.

However, despite a potential edge in athleticism, Haslett will not discount Carrick/

“We played them last year two games, and beat them pretty heavily but they actually scored on us first in both games," Haslett recalls. "You know what happens when someone scores on you and then you have a turnover and something else happens and they score on you twice, and then it’s hard to come back on. So we’re not overlooking them, and I’m sure they’re going to play hard against us.”

Carrick also has a new coach in Ed White, a longtime Keystone Oaks assistant. White has implemented a new system but continues to focus on fundamentals every day in practice, as well as teaching the philosophy of the game.

He’s not alone in this process as players Marsai Howard, Taylor Thornton and Dayquaun Evans have stepped into leadership roles.

“They’ve come to be leaders on the team," White said. "I think they see what I’m trying to get across and they’re trying to get the rest of the team to do it.”

As for the Jackson twins, White hopes that his team will not give plays away to them. 

“We’re going to put in a game plan this week. We’re going to hopefully stop them from making the big plays," White said. "We’re not going to be able to stop them the whole game, but don’t let any big plays happen."

Kickoff at Cupples Stadium on the South Side is set for 7 PM.