By Devin Smith

BRUNDIDGE – The Pike County Bulldogs are staring at a regional gauntlet, and head coach Fred Holland hopes the momentum from a big home win last week will carry the team through successfully.

The Bulldogs, 3-2 and 1-1 in region, returned to Brundidge last week and hosted Luverne, defeating the Tigers 20-18 in a thrilling, last-minute victory.

Holland said it was a good win for his team and was the type of game that his players can use to motivate themselves going forward.

“It was a great team win,” Holland said. “The guys faced some adversity on Friday night against a very good Luverne team, but they fought hard and were able to make enough plays to win the game.”

The key play of the game was a two-point conversion by the Bulldogs with less than a minute to go, which was a decision Holland felt he had to make after the kicking game began to struggle.

“With the way the kicking game had been going it felt like the right decision,” Holland said. “Bailey made a good throw and then Batie made a really good catch on a play we had to make. I was really proud of the way the guys fought, I think it was a good game for us.”

Now Pike County moves into the final stretch of the season as the Bulldogs play through the remainder of their regional schedule beginning with Barbour County, 0-6 on the season and 0-3 in the region. Barbour County poses many of the same threats on the field as the Tigers did on Friday.

“They are similar in that they have skill players at a lot of different positions,” Holland said. “They are an athletic team who has given us some problems the last few times we’ve played them.”

In fact the Bulldogs have lost two straight to the Jaguars, but Holland believes his team is prepared to handle business to prevent the streak to extend.

“The guys have been working hard,” Holland said. “Barbour County is a good team, and I think the guys have been playing very well. These games are all important as we try to secure a playoff spot, we’ve already lost one region game to Dale County so each game is very important.” Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium in Brundidge.