Indian Land took advantage of its offensive line controlling the line of scrimmage to defeat North Central 20-0 last Friday night. In the end, the running game was able to wear down the defense and bring the Warriors' record to 2-3 on the season.

The win also exemplifies what Indian Land head coach Mike Mayer has been preaching to his team since the beginning of the season.

"We are getting better but we still need to improve," he said. "We have not played a complete game all year; we have played a good half, but not a full four quarters."

On Friday, the Warriors went into the half in a scoreless tie, but got two rushing touchdowns from Breyon Williams and Deon Sayles added another. Both the offensive and defensive lines played well all night, but Mayer is more concerned with putting that energy into a full game.

"We need to expect to win every game from the time we take the field for a game and every day at practice," Mayer said.

Mayer said he is proud of how the team has bounced back and came into the season ready to improve. He said the team is always loose and never gets nervous or uptight, but he would like to see them play a complete game and execute well from start to finish.

"[The team] is better than last year, but not as good as we had hoped," Mayer said.

Last year, Indian Land won only one game.

The Warriors have seen progress in many aspects of the team since the beginning of the season and the improvements continue on a week-to-week basis. Mayer said he still thinks his team is lacking something that will propel the Warriors into being the team the coaching staff thinks they can become.

"We need to expect to win every game from the first play to the last play; We do not have a killer instinct," Mayer said. "Our kids have to expect to make the big play and not expect for things to go wrong."

Indian Land still has a long way to accomplish what Mayer and his staff laid out for this team before the season started. They need to play more consistently and cut down on the mental mistakes and the lapses of concentration and execution.

Mayer believes that they will put it together in time to salvage a season in which they started 1-3 and seemed headed down the same path as last year's team that finished with only one victory.

This week, the Warriors return to The Reservation as they take on Chesterfield Friday. Indian Land could even its record and get closer to Mayer's preseason goal.

"We expect to have a winning record and make the playoffs," he said.