Charles Henderson head coach Brad McCoy returns to Daleville tonight, a place where he spent five years as head coach, as the Trojans take on the Warhawks.

The familiarity between McCoy and the Warhawks is sure to add a little bit of intrigue.

“There is always a spin to the game when we play Daleville because I coached there for five years,” McCoy said. “I spent a lot of time there I know a lot of the coaches and most of the kids. I don’t know if it will be a pleasant homecoming, but it will be a homecoming all in the same.”

After defending Jerrell Lawson and the athletic offense of Pike County last week, the Trojans face the always hard-to-defend triple-option attack of the Warhawks.

The triple-option offense is fairly uncommon, so it is hard to simulate and learn to defend in a one-week practice schedule.

“We need to make sure that the guys are in the right places and no matter what personnel we have, we need to make sure that everyone knows who has the quarterback and who has the pitchman,” McCoy said. “Being able to do that every down is important. It is more about being disciplined than having the right personnel.”

Even after a summer full of preparing for more typical spread offenses, McCoy doesn’t see a problem with his defense being able to lock down on the Warhawks’ running attack Friday evening.

The Warhawks are going to have to a lot of work and preparation to try and defend the Trojans’ running attack as well.

In last Friday’s win over Pike County quarterback Bryson Gandy and running back Jared Wilson rushed for a combined 180 yards on just 49 carries.

“When it comes to Bryson and Jared, they are really tough runners for us,” McCoy said. “Our identity is going to be more about running the football.”

Although the Trojans hope to pass the ball and open up the field, Gandy as a first year quarterback is just not quite there. McCoy believes after a few more weeks of practice and games Gandy will be right where he needs to be.

“Bryson is a quarterback that did not go through a full spring training due to playing baseball. He has only had reps during the summer and fall camps,” McCoy said. “Last week may not be comfortable for three more weeks because it just takes time. I feel like we are going to attempt to throw the ball more down the field Friday night, so we can put him more at ease.”

McCoy has seen an improvement from Gandy throughout the last couple of weeks of practice and expects to see more of an improvement Friday night against the Warhawks.

“He looks more comfortable in the pocket. He already has a good throwing motion and throws a good football,” McCoy said. “The receivers are going to jump on his band wagon a little bit and run their routes harder. Everyone needs to buy in with helping move this young quarterback along.”

Kick off between the Trojans and Warhawks is 7 p.m.

“We are to going to have to know and execute our assignments,” McCoy said. “We are going to have to learn how to tackle, they have a couple of athletic kids. On offense we are going to have to move the chains and take care of the football.”