It's good for us to see a team like Clinton. Going against a (Class) 4A team early on will show us where we're at and what we need to improve upon.

This is a good Gateway-area rivalry. Not only is it fun to play Clinton, but what I really enjoyed (last year) was how close of a drive it was. Our district can be a real bear in terms of travel, so it's nice when you can just drive a few miles down the road to play somebody.

A lot of things went our way in that game. There was a short span where we had two defensive touchdowns. The momentum we gained from that was a huge part of the game.

You make so many strides between the first and second game, so I like the way this schedule has worked out. We'll have an extra week to do a lot of instructing before taking on Solon.

I think it will be a test for us moving up a class. But I think we'll be fine.

Games like this are good for us. It will get us ready for next week. It's always good playing the quality competition Althoff provides.