Area teams open region play tonight

Published 9:03 pm Thursday, September 1, 2011

Week 2 of high school football action kicks off tonight. No. 2 Pike Liberal Arts comes in as the areas only ranked team while Goshen looks to tangle with top ranked Elba in Class 2A action.

All game times are set for 7 p.m.

Pike Liberal Arts at Macon-East

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The Patriots can’t looking ahead to an potentially epic matchup with Monroe in Week 3. Pike must take care of business in Cecil first.

The Patriots are 4-7 all time against the Knights but have reeled off three consecutive victories.

Last year’s contest ended in a 40-7 Patriot rout.

A healthy Josh Starling could equal more of the same for the Knights in the 2011 rematch.

Charles Henderson at Tallassee

The Trojans are coming off a tough 21-14 loss to Beauregard in the opening week.

Head coach Hugh Fountain will be looking for more consistency on the offensive side of the ball especially from his offensive linemen. Charles Henderson and Tallassee are deadlocked at five wins each in the all time series with the Trojans last victory coming in 2008.

The Tigers replaced head coach Rodney Dollar, now with Pike County, with Jared Jones, but retained the same offensive and defensive coordinators from last year’s 9-2 team.

Charles Henderson must find some offensive production outside of Courtney Downing if they hope to reach the 2011 playoffs.

Elba at Goshen

Last year’s 21-19 Elba victory will be on the minds of this year’s Goshen team as the Eagles look to rebound from a disappointing 48-20 loss to G.W. Long last week.

Goshen’s inexperienced group of linebackers must step up and produce or it could be a long night for the Eagles.

The last time Goshen started a season 0-2 was 2005 when the team finished 1-9.

Slocomb at Pike County

Head coach Rodney Dollar looks to get the Bulldogs back on the right track against region opponent Slocomb.

The Bulldogs struggled offensively in last week’s 14-7 loss to Notasulga.

Pike County is 6-1 all time against the Red Tops with the only loss coming in 2008, 14-6.

Slocomb defeated Cottonwood last week, 21-6.

Calhoun at Zion Chapel

The Rebels look to start a season 2-0 for the first time since 1985.

Zion Chapel fell 42-14 to Calhoun last season but after beating Pleasant Home 43-21 feel confident in their offense’s ability to score points.

The Rebels last qualified for the AHSAA playoffs in 2005.