During a season planning meeting, Red Level head football coach Tony Ingram said he made the suggestion to move this week’s homecoming game to having it during basketball season.

Ingram’s suggestion was turned down and RLS will have the tall task of trying to get its first win of the season Friday night against Samson at Bobby Dye Stadium.

“I wish it wasn’t this week,” Ingram said about homecoming. “I tried to move it to basketball season, but they wouldn’t have any of that.”

Red Level (0-4) will face a Samson team who is coached by Pleasant Home former coach Robert Bradford. Bradford’s Class 2A Tigers are 3-1 this season with their only blemish going against G.W. Long on Sept. 7 in a 35-17 loss.

Ingram said homecoming “is what it is.”

“There will be distractions every where,” he said. “It’s a part of high school football. They’re building floats and probably rolling yards all over Red Level.

“We’ve got to keep our focus on Friday night,” he said.

The last few weeks have been treacherous for Red Level because it has faced different types of offenses against PHS, McKenzie and Kinston, Ingram said.

Samson will spread the line out and will run a “Tony Franklin” type offense, Ingram said.

“It’s kind of like against Pleasant Home, where they are bunched up and coming right at you,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ve hadn’t had more success against the spread stuff. We’ve had trouble stopping people going right at us.”

Bradford is a good friend of Ingram’s and after much chatter, the Red Level coach said Samson’s starting quarterback is out, “but they’ve been playing back ups the last two weeks.”

“They’re winning with this guy,” Ingram said about Samson’s Cole Dean.

When asked how a team can manage to get prepared for different offensive attacks each week, Ingram said they adjust to what the opponents give.

“They’re going to spread us back out and make us play in space,” he said about SHS. “I think we play better in space than having a team bunch up and go down hill at us.

“We’re prepared for a four to five wide look and a lot of passes and runs,” he said. “They’re doing a good job of what they do.”

Like any season, any team has its set backs with injured players and Red Level isn’t any different, the coach said.

Ingram said he’s relying on his younger players to “step up” this week for homecoming.

Freshman Dameyune Scott will play this week at full back and linebacker; Tim Sims will not return from an injury last week; Garrett Goodson will have an MRI done on his shoulder today; and Jacob Andrews suffered a concussion last week and isn’t looking to play this week, Ingram said.

Additionally, Ingram said Marty Harris will have to step up and fill a spot on the defensive line this week.

“(Harris has) come a long way from spring practice,” Ingram said.

One thing Ingram said his team needs more than anything right now is a “win.”

“It would be huge right now,” he said. “We need one as bad as any bunch I’ve ever seen. These kids play hard. Your best effort (on Friday night) might not be that good.

“It was one of those games Friday night (in a 46-6 loss to Kinston) where we were sleep walking,” he said. “I don’t think I was prepared as a coach anywhere I should’ve been. We will be ready Friday night.”