The Pike County Bulldogs had to resort to practicing in a parking lot Thursday afternoon due to a swamped practice field, but head coach Fred Holland and his team feel ready to go for the season opener tonight against Elba.

The Bulldogs hope to win their fifth opening-day game in the last six years when they go up against the Tigers.

“We are really excited,” Holland said. “We are coming off of our jamboree and we needed a lot of improvement. I think our guys are looking forward to the game after we had a good week of practice. I can honestly say we have gotten better.”

The Bulldogs are coming off a shutout loss to Charles Henderson a week ago in exhibition play and look to right the ship this evening.

“We saw a lot of things that we need to work on,” Holland said. “That’s what we did. I think our coaches saw it and our players saw it. We really understand that’s what the Jamboree is for. You really learn a lot about yourself and we did that.”

This week the 2A Tigers come to Bulldogs Stadium. The Tigers will get their first full game action after teaming up with Goshen last week in the Southeastern Showdown.

“Elba has a lot of tradition,” Holland said. “The players have a lot of pride and the coaches have a lot of pride. It’s not hard to prepare for them. They do a lot of good things and they exploit you in a lot of ways. Our job this week was to get ready for them.”

The Bulldogs will have to contend with a strong rushing Tiger rushing attack.

“They do a good job at running and blocking,” Holland said. “They play great defense and they have a lot of speed. With that speed and toughness, they show a lot of things on offense as far as spreading you out and playing ball control.”

The Tigers and Bulldogs opened up the season a year ago with the Tigers coming out on top 36-22 in Elba.

“They are similar,” Holland said. “They do a good job running the ball. They do a good job at burning the clock up. They attack you in spots and prevent you from getting the ball back.”

The Bulldogs are 14-22 all time against the Bulldogs.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.