"Right now every game is important to us. I think it's important for these seniors to go out with a win and for us when we start lifting weights this winter to end the season with a win," Stephens said.
Trimble (5-4) has won its last two games over Bracken County and Owen County by a combined 100-6 even without David Bird, who had rushed for 1,332 yards and 11 touchdowns in six games before going down with a season-ending knee injury.
Two of Trimble's losses have been to North Oldham and Frankfort.
"They are in the shotgun a lot more now and doing a good job spreading the ball around. I know last Friday against Owen they threw for over 300 yards and ran for over 200 yards. They start a bunch of seniors and are a good football team," Stephens said.
Trimble's Hawkes the man to watch out for
Trimble quarterback Justin Hawkes is 82-for-146 for 1,225 yards passing and eight touchdowns. He also has rushed for 555 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Larry Sullivan has been Hawkes' top target with 30 catches for 512 yards and three touchdowns, while Jesse Peters has 14 catches for 275 yards and four scores. Michael Edens has rushed for 254 yards and three touchdowns in the last two games in place of Bird.
"Hawkes runs the ball really hard and is very competitive. He seems to be getting more and more comfortable in the passing game," Stephens said. "They are taking a lot of shots down the field, and that makes them dangerous in the passing game. They have several good receivers that they are throwing to, too."
Casey's offense has struggled at times this season. Stephens says Trimble's line and linebackers are big and aggressive.
"They come hard on every snap. They use Corey Jones as an inside linebacker in their 4-4 set, and he is 325 pounds. He moves pretty good, too," Stephens said. "It will be difficult for us to move the ball between the tackles.
"We have to protect (quarterback) Shannon Wethington in our passing game. We need to be able to go on some drives and run the clock."
Stephens feels his team had a chance to heal during last week's open date and also have "a little fun" during practice.
"We were really beat up these last few weeks. We hope to be at full strength this week," he said.
He let assistant coaches Kevin Long and Sam Marple each coach a team in an intrasquad game last week.
"We played for a couple of hours. They played hard and had fun, which I think helped us," Stephens said.
