When Aaron Sims took over as Alpena High’s football coach, he did so with a vision of turning the Wildcats into a fundamentally sound team that would beat teams with a relentless ground attack.

Tonight Sims will face off against the very program he’s trying to emulate as the Wildcats host Petoskey for homecoming at 7 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium.

“They’re a ground and pound team and obviously they’ve hit a rough spot as far as this year. But previous to this year they were a good program and they still are. It’s one of those years where times are tough,” Sims said. “We’re looking to have that type of (consistent) success. That’s one of our goals is to have that success where we’re going a couple of rounds in the playoffs.”

On the surface, all the cards seem to be in Alpena’s favor as the Wildcats try to break a four-game losing streak. The Northmen are 0-7 and out of the playoff picture for the first time since 2013 and will post a losing record for the first time since 2007.

Despite a winless record, Sims and the Wildcats aren’t taking the Northmen lightly. The Northmen haven’t lost to Alpena since 2006 and Petoskey won the most recent meeting 51-0 in the final game at Curtis Field last season.

“We’re looking at this as it’s homecoming week. It’s a big game for us just because we’re looking to get back on the winning track and I feel like this is a week we can do,” Sims said. “I don’t care how many wins or losses they have, we have to go out and compete.”

Petoskey has come up just shy of victory in several games. The Northmen lost to Traverse City West two points in week four, five points to Charlotte in week five and seven to Gaylord last week.

While the Northmen are known for having a strong running game, their passing attack has been a bright spot in a winless season. Quarterback Joel Wilson has thrown for 597 yards and nine touchdowns while spreading the wealth among several targets including Jake Lee (248 yards, six touchdowns) and John Crittenden (279 yards, three touchdowns).

Defensively, Petoskey has struggled mightily with 12 fumbles and five interceptions. The Northmen have gotten good production when they play turnover-free ball and have some playmakers on defense despite the turnovers.

Execution will be important for the Wildcats if they hope to win. Alpena has repeatedly shown flashes of consistency against tougher opponents, but has yet to do it for four quarters to give itself a chance to win. Sims said there has been a good deal of positive energy within the program in the weight room, watching film and during practice because players understand what they need to do to improve.

“It was the same thing last week with Central, we don’t look at them any different. It’s a matter of we have to go out and execute. Last week we didn’t execute,” Sims said. “We did some really good things on the offensive line, did some good things on defense, but overall as a group we didn’t execute.”

Sims said keeping a positive outlook is important to the learning process, especially for an Alpena team that’s seen a lot of turnover in recent seasons and has spent the whole season trying to learn a new system. The growing pains that come with learning might not automatically equal wins, but over time correcting mistakes and executing well will make players better and will make the team better as a result.

“We’re never going to get used to losing or accept it. It’s a matter of you’ve got to look at the film, look at what we’re doing, learn from it, learn the lessons that are there to be learned and get better from it,” Sims said. “If you sit there and get down in the dumps and start quitting, you shouldn’t be doing this stuff.”

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.