The Charles Henderson Trojans hope to rebound from a tough season-opening loss as they host the Dale County Warriors tonight.

In last week’s 27-9 loss to Daleville, the Trojans were uncharacteristically undisciplined, said head coach Brad McCoy. The Trojans had a few unsportsmanlike penalties in the game including two from quarterback Bryson Gandy, forcing the officials to eject the quarterback from the game.

“We had a combination of mental and physical mistakes last week,” McCoy said. “When Gandy got removed from the game that certainly didn’t help our situation. It seems like every time we moved the football we had a penalty that moved us back.”

Last week’s ejection was an uncharacteristic mistake from the young quarterback and after a week of coaching, McCoy believes that Gandy is ready to move on.

“He lost his composure and let his emotions get the best of him,” McCoy said. “Bryson is a true competitor and I love that about him. The only thing that he has to get better at is handling adversity. Hopefully this week we have the mental side back.”

The Trojans will be welcoming the Warriors, a team that advanced to the state championship a year ago after a 14-1 season.

The Warriors got blitzed a week ago, 52-0 and are hungry to pick up their first win of the season.

“There is a lot of excitement in that community in Midland City. Coach Harrison and his staff do a terrific job, they are great coaches,” McCoy said. “They are rebuilding. They have a lot of young players in certain spots. Nevertheless their expectations are high. They haven’t come out on the winning end the last two weeks so they will be chomping at the bit.”

Both teams enter Friday night’s game with something to prove.

“You’re either getting better or your getting worse,” McCoy said. “There is no gray area in that. We are trying to take hold of that mind set.”

The Trojans will not only have to get better physically this week to get ready for the Warriors, they will also have to stay composed and disciplined.

“We need to play focused and eliminate the penalties that we can control, like with our mouth. Those penalties have cost us nearly 60 yards. That is a game changer,” McCoy said. “It not that Dale County presents a challenge, it’s us. If we can overcome the mistakes that we are making than we can play with anybody. I don’t care who it is.”

The Trojans will have to clean up their troubles for this to be a success this season. McCoy believes they may not be at that level of maturity as of yet to realize how important it is to stay composed and disciplined throughout the game.

“It may take more than loss to prove it,” McCoy said. “There is no in between, either you fix it or the same things are going to happen. There is no way to sugarcoat it or make it any easier than that. Our kids have to grow up and learn that they can’t make the same mistakes week in and week out or it’s going to be a long season.”

Kick off between the Warriors and Trojans will be 7 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium.