After a dominant performance in the district tournament, the 11-and-under boys soccer team will be back on the field this weekend shooting for a state title.

And even though there was a two-week layoff between tournaments, the team is ready for action.

“Our guys are ready to go,” head coach Jay Wilson said Thursday night.

“They are ready to play – and have been for a while now. They don’t want to practice or scrimmage any more, they want to play in real games, which is good.”

In the previous tournament, the Troy team took out Ozark, Ft. Rucker and Eufaula to secure district and its spot in Dothan.

But along the way, the team has been improving in preparation for what’s to come.

“We have a special group of kids on this team,” the coach said.

“They have had a lot of fun so far and have worked really hard. They are a completely different team then they were at the first practice. Over the last couple of weeks, they have improved on ball control, passing and moving the ball down field.”

In first round action on Saturday, Troy will take on Oxford at 9 a.m., followed by a game against Sylacauga at 2 p.m.

“Both Oxford and Sylacauga have typically had good teams,” Wilson said. “And our guys know that.

“We have talked about how the competition will be better then what we have seen before and the guys are really unfazed by it all. They are excited to play. I really look forward to seeing how we do the field this weekend.”