Neither Pike County High School nor Goshen High School has gotten off to the start of the basketball season they hoped.

The Eagles dropped two games this week, a close loss to Red Level and rout to Luverne, and Pike County is looking to get its season on track after picking up its first win last week in the Carroll Thanksgiving Classic in Ozark.

Goshen head coach Johnny Mitchell said that his squad is ready to shake off the rough start to the week.

“We are still a young basketball team, and are still learning how to play with each other,” said Mitchell. “We have had some tough games, but a win for us would be huge and help us build confidence.”

Pike County and Goshen are the only two high schools in the county system. The two programs square off in nearly every sport offered by the schools, and have developed a little bit of a rivalry through the years.

“Brundidge is definitely a big rival for us,” said Mitchell. “All the kids know each other from playing against them in just about every sport there is. Good thing about basketball is that you don’t have to wait seven days to get back at it. We are ready.”

Mitchell said the game with Red Level was a high energy game that could’ve gone the Eagles way with a couple of bounces, and the matchup with Luverne was vastly different from what he expected.

Luverne dominated the Eagles, 92-43 Tuesday night.

“They “Luverne have got to be one of the top 2A teams in the state of Alabama,” said Mitchell. “I have been coaching this game for over 20 years and haven’t seen too many smaller schools field a team like that. If they aren’t the best, I want to see who is.”

The Eagles and Bulldogs will meet in Brundidge Friday night.