Boyle County will face another quality dual-threat quarterback on Friday.

The Rebels will visit Collins in a battle between two 3-1 teams.

Collins have put up points in bunches this season — averaging 37 per contest. Quarterback JR Lucas is among the state passing leaders, averaging 240 yards per game.

But that’s not new for the Rebels this season — Wayne County’s Lorenzo Linsey averages 221 passing yards per game and Boyle handled the Cardinals 38-14 last week.

Wayne was the No. 2 team in 4A last week. This week, Collins is No. 2 in 4A according to the Associated Press.

“They’re doing a really good job,” Boyle head coach Chuck Smith said. “They’ve got a quarterback that is just a really tough guy to handle. He makes a lot of their big plays for them, he makes plays for them in the run game and off of scrambles. He’s going to be a handful for us to control and keep contained in the pocket.

“It seems like we’ve played a lot of mobile quarterbacks. He’s one that can really throw the ball and they’ve got some other good players. That’s what makes them so dangerous. He is definitely the guy that is the key to their offense.”

Lucas is fourth in Class 4A with 144 rushing yards per game. He’s second in the class in passing yards and is one of the top scorers in the state.

But that didn’t stop the Rebels in the past two years against Collins. Boyle won 49-30 last season and 48-14 in 2015.

Smith said he expects another high-scoring game and said his offense will have to answer the call.

“We’ve got to be able to score some points because their offense scores a lot of points,” Smith said. “I think for that to happen, one of the things we’ve focused on this week is our blocking. We want to strike at the point of attack and not catch blocks. We need to do that. We need to be physical on the offensive line and at the point of attack with our blocking receivers. I think that’ll be a key for us. We’ve got to be able to run the football and if we can’t strike, we can’t run the ball.”

Defense will have to play its part, as well. The Rebels forced four turnovers last week and have 15 forced turnovers this season.

“We’ve got to be able to control their quarterback,” Smith said. “We’ve got to make big plays, make them earn what they get. We have done a good job with turnovers, but we’ve got to continue to do that and get the ball back to our offense.”