Pike Liberal Arts, Goshen, and Pike County all host opponents in week three of the high school football season.

Pike Liberal Arts plays host to Lyman Ward Military Academy on Homecoming. The Patriots are 0-2 on the season, but PLAS head coach Gene Allen is making strides towards picking up that elusive first win.

“We didn’t start out real well last week,” Allen said. “We gave up a lot of big plays on defense, but offensively we moved the ball really well.”

Pike leads the all-time series against Lyman Ward 5-0, and it has outscored the Fighting Rangers 183-20.

Allen said that the Patriots can’t rest on past results against the Fighting Rangers, because PLAS and Lyman Ward have the same record in 2013.

“We can’t overlook this bunch,” Allen said. “We need to get a win, and they see us at 0-2, and as a team they can get a win against us too. We have to be ready to go Friday night.”

Pike County, fresh off a heart-breaking, last-second loss to Barbour County, welcomes in the Dale County Warriors to Bulldog Stadium on Friday night.

The Bulldogs look to revenge two consecutive losses to their rivals from Midland City.

Pike County last beat the Warriors in 2010.

Bulldogs head coach Fred Holland said that the focus for his team this week has been protecting the football, after having five turnovers in their 34-20 loss to Barbour County last week.

“We have to take care of the football better, there is no way around that,” Holland said. “We didn’t do a very good job of that at all last week, and we know that we have to fix it if we want to win ball games. We have been preaching to them to take care of the ball.”

The Bulldogs lead the all-time series against Dale County 13-8, and are 7-2 against the Warriors since the series renewed in 2002.

The Goshen Eagles welcome in the New Brockton Gamecocks to the Eagle’s Nest looking for their first win of the season.

Goshen led region-favorite Luverne early in last week’s game, before falling 32-15.

The Eagles don’t get a break, as New Brockton is picked by many to be Luverne’s biggest challenge for the region title in 2013.

The Gamecocks lost to Providence Christian in week one, before routing Calhoun 60-20 last week.

Goshen head coach Bart Snyder said that New Brockton will present a tough challenge for his team, but feels the Eagles will be ready to play.

“They are big,” Snyder said. “They are big, tall guys, and Coach (Jim Bob) Striplin does a fantastic job down there. They have a win under their belt, and our guys want that win bad. Everyone likes to win because it brings a positive attitude along with it. We need to get that mark in the W column.”

Kickoff for all three games is set for 7 p.m. in Troy, Goshen, and Brundidge.