Purcell will try to get back in the win column when it travels to Lexington for a Friday night tilt for bragging rights to the James C. Nance Bridge.

Kickoff has been set for 7 p.m. against a Lexington defense that hasn’t yielded a single point through the first two games of the 2024 gridiron season.

“Coach Bolles and his staff are doing a tremendous job,” Purcell Head Coach Aaron Dillard said earlier this week “They are greatly improved over last year and they’ve pitched two shutouts.’

The Bulldogs will run a power game on the ground against the Dragons with some isolation plays filtered in.

The ‘Dawgs base out of a 4-3 on defense.

“They give great effort and are very physical at the point of attack,” Dillard continued of the Bulldog defenders. “You can tell their quarterback is experienced. He operates the offense well and throws it well.”

Dillard said Lexington has a big, strong tailback, a big strong, physical receiver.

“They are really athletic,” Dillard continued. “We will have to play well.”

The key: “We have to limit our penalties and turnovers,” the coach confirmed. “We need to win first down and make them second and third and long. We need to put them in positions they don’t want to be in and that is to have to throw the football,” Dillard said.

Even though the Dragons lost at Washington last Friday night, 48-14 Dillard saw some bright spots.

“I thought we had quite a few guys that had really strong games,” the second year Dragon coach said. “Boston Knowles had a tremendous night. He was our leading rusher with 160 yards on 18 carries and scored two touchdowns.”

One of Knowles’ touchdown runs was over 90 yards. He was also the leading tackler on defense with 13 stops.

“He played nearly every snap,” Dillard said. He had a tough assignment covering Washington’s tight ends all night.”

Dillard said linebackers Christian Kirk and Casey Billingsly both had strong games.

“They played the run really well all night. That Howard kid is a great back and I think we made him earn his yards.”

Dillard praised the play of defensive linemen Jonathon Minor, Brian Bernal, Rigo Carrillo, Dylan Smith and Landry Bacon.

“They did a pretty good job of controlling the run and the line of scrimmage,” Dillard said.

Following Knowles’ game-high 13 tackles, including eight solo, Kirk was next with nine stops while Billingsly registered six tackles.

Dillard reported the Dragons rushed for 241 yards and had 37 through the air.

“Oscar Wren had a couple of big catches and Billingsly played well at running back in for Boston,” the coach confirmed.

Casey gained 40 yards on 11 carries.

“The real story was us getting 100 yards in penalties. We had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes that gave our defense some short fields, giving them really good field position. Overall, we played very physical game. But with a quality opponent like Washington if you make as many mistakes as we did they’re going to beat you,” Dillard said.

Dragons notes:

Purcell Head Coach Aaron Dillard nominated Landry Bacon as the Offensive Lineman of the Week. He graded out at 85 percent blocking against the Warriors.

Dillard nominated Boston Knowles as the Offensive Player of the Week for his 160 yards rushing and two touchdown performance.

Jonathon Minor got the nod as Defensive Lineman of the Week. He had six tackles and had two tackles for loss.

The Defensive Player of the Week nominee is Christian Kirk. He had nine tackles and blocked two PATs.