The start of the high school football season can only mean one thing: The annual rivalry between Charles Henderson and Pike County.

The Trojans and Bulldogs will renew their rivalry at 7 p.m. Friday at Bulldogs Stadium in Brundidge.

“You kind of see it in the body language of our kids,” said Charles Henderson head coach Brad McCoy. “They are proud that it’s here, and they are excited to get on the buses tomorrow and ride down the road.”

The annual showdown with Pike County is something that everybody looks forward to.

“Every year this is something that everyone of those kids look forward to,” McCoy said. “For both Pike County and us, we treat this like a playoff game. It’s a fun way to start the season.”

The fact that the players on both teams are so familiar with one another only ads fuel to the fire.

“This mean’s a lot,” said Trojan senior defensive back Montavious Dixon. “We have been playing with them for years. I think it’s going to be a good game. We are looking forward to playing against them.”

The Trojans enter the season two deep in most positions and on Friday night McCoy hopes many of his players will have the opportunity to see the field.

“We have to use this game to prepare these players for when someone goes down,” McCoy said. “We’ll try to get as many of these young guys playing time in a real game-like atmosphere to see how they are going to react and handle the pressure.”

Even though the game is technically and exhibition game, the players on both Charles Henderson and Pike County know that there is much more on the line.

“Our kids see this as another opportunity to improve and to get better,” McCoy said. “It doesn’t matter if its Pike County or Hoover, you have to present every game and practice as if this is our last game or a playoff game. Let’s compete and execute at a high level and win. We are trying to win football games.”

The Trojans will also use the game this evening to get more efficient on offense to where they will make less mistakes.

“The main thing I want to see out of our offense is fewer mistakes, more discipline and higher execution.” McCoy said. “In offense you have so many things that can kill drives and prevent first downs. I want to be efficient in what we are doing. I don’t want us to beat ourselves. I want to play at a pace where we are moving the chains.”

The Trojans are hoping a good performance this evening could springboard them into their week one matchup against UMS Wright.

“You come out and do well and the kids’ morale is high. You make more positive plays than negative ones, and it does certainly help their mindset going into the following week,” McCoy said. “We have no time to sit back on our laurels. We are going to have to get ready for UMS bright and early on Saturday morning.”