The Charles Henderson Trojans are a team in search of an identity, and tonight’s homecoming game against Alabama Christian could give them that much-needed win.

“I think we are still young and not very seasoned,” said Coach Brad McCoy said. “We still have a lot of things that we need to get up to speed on when it comes to the game itself.”

The Trojans had an opportunity last Friday night to make a statement within the 5A Region 2 standings when they faced region favorite Greenville. After a good first half, things fell apart for the Trojans in a 35-10 loss to the Tigers.

“We made mistakes that we should have made from a situational standpoint,” McCoy said.

Those mistakes were the first things Trojans focused on as they returned to practice this week.

“Any mistakes you make during a ball game you start addressing them immediately and you get back to work. That’s what we did on Saturday after the Greenville game,” McCoy said. “You work on the things that need to be worked on. You concentrate on fundamentals.”

During practice this week the Trojans have focused on taking what they did so well in the first half and trying to turn it into a full game effort.

“All you can do is explain to your team ‘hey this his how we are supposed to play. This is a picture of what it takes to win a ball game.’ You have to try and take that into halftime and come back in the second half and create a mirror image of that. There really isn’t a crystal ball,” McCoy said. “There is really nothing you can do other than try to impress on your team that this is what it takes to win.

The challenge the Trojan coaching staff is deciding where to draw the line in determining whether a mistake was made by lack of discipline or lack of experience.

“When we first started out in the first couple of ball games against Pike County and Daleville, I think it was more discipline,” McCoy said. “There is a difference between foolish, discipline penalties and fumbling a football or things that are happening during a play. I think we have improved on the mental discipline side of the mistakes that we are making. Now we have to overcome the physical mistakes that we are making.”

McCoy hopes the Trojans (2-2 and 0-1 in the region) can do that as they host Alabama Christian Academy, a team in search of their first win of the season.

“I think the biggest challenge that we have is us,” McCoy said. “ACA has a sound football team that has struggled a little bit this year. I just think we need to fix the issues within our team. It doesn’t matter who we play, if we can fix the issues than we stand a chance to beat anybody.”

This week’s game will have the added excitement of homecoming week.

“Sometimes it is filled with distractions but it doesn’t have to be.

If you have a disciplined football team there is no such thing has homecoming distractions,” McCoy said.

“Homecoming is fun if we win on Friday night. Homecoming is not very fun if you don’t get it done. It may be fun for everybody else, but it’s not fun for the coaching staff and the players.”

The Trojans and Eagles will kick things off at 7 p.m. tonight at Veterans Memorial Stadium.