The Mercer coach is concerned with Harrodsburg's speed even though the Pioneers rushed for only one yard in last week's loss and lost juniors Freeman Edwards and Brandon Ford in the second half with shoulder injuries.
"We will prepare as if they will be playing," Jaggers said. "We won't overlook them. They have more speed than anyone we will play against all year. (Cory) Jackson and Ford can score every time they touch the football.
"They were just overwhelmed last week by a good football team. We will have to play our best to beat them. I hope our kids realize that. Our assistant coaches that have been here a while said that we have not beaten them at home since the early 1990s. That should be motivation enough."
Status of Edwards, Ford uncertain
Harrodsburg coach Terry Yeast said he probably won't know the status of Edwards and Ford until Friday, or maybe Saturday.
"I'm a little nervous right now about their condition," Yeast said. "If you lose two kids of that caliber, it makes you worry. When you have all of your players you can't just focus on one player because all of them have the capability to make things happen.
"The same thing happened to us in the playoffs last year. Brandon suffered a concussion and (Holy Cross) focused on Cory the rest of the night. It took away some of the things that Cory likes to do. If those two guys can't play, it will make it tougher for us to win."
If Edwards is unable to play, freshman Trevor Short will start at quarterback.
"He did a nice job last week," the Harrodsburg coach said. "Nothing seems to scare him and he seems to be comfortable running our offense. He wants to be a leader, but he is still young and needs to get a lot stronger."
Special teams played a big part for both teams last week.
Ford returned a kickoff 65 yards for the Pioneers only points. Mercer had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown in the third quarter, but then blocked a North Laurel punt in the fourth quarter and that gave the Scotties all the momentum they would need.
"There's no question, the blocked punt was the turning point of the game," Yeast said. "From there, they just had a huge boost of confidence. My hat is off to their coaching staff. They kept the kids motivated and they made the plays when they needed them."
Scotties rushed for 201 yards
Donald Walker ran for 112 yards and two scores for Mercer while Brandon Scheller rushed for 77 yards on 15 carries. The Scotties rushed for 201 of their 258 total yards.
"I think their offensive line was in better shape than North Laurel down the stretch," Yeast said. "(Justin) Morgan did a nice job at quarterback while Scheller and Walker ran extremely hard.
"Our key is to not let the guys up front control the game. We'll have to work on some things that will keep them from overpowering us. They are going to try to line up and run over us. They are so big. I think it is the best line I have seen them have in some time. They have the opportunity to just control a game up front."
Jaggers agreed.
"Our kids could tell we were wearing them down and wanted to run the football," the Mercer coach said. "They know that's what we needed to do to be successful."
Yeast is somewhat concerned about the Pioneers mindset.
"Some of our kids are so young that they don't have a grasp of what is going on yet," Yeast said. "Our older players are beginning to get frustrated because we aren't winning. They are not used to being 0-2.
"Mercer has a lot of confidence. They got a win and are undefeated going into the game. They watched us play - and we took a pretty good spanking - and their confidence level will be off the wall."
