The Ariton Purple Cats look to continue their strong start to their season Friday night when they travel to take on Geneva County.

The Cats (2-1,1-0) won their second game of the season last Friday night in thrilling fashion when they knocked off Cottonwood 14-13 in over time.

“It was a good win especially with how it happened,” said head coach Steven Kilcrease. “Our guys showed a lot of character. They kept fighting. We kept moving the ball but we couldn’t punch it in. Our defense played really well.”

Defensively the Purple Cats held the Cottonwood offense out of the end zone during regulation. Their lone score came on a bobbled snap by Ariton and Cottonwood picked it up in the end zone.

In overtime it was Bryson Peavy that hauled in the winning touchdown.

With the win the Purple Cats picked up win number one within the region.

“That was huge,” Kilcrease said. “Our goal is to win a region championship. It starts with the first one; we talked about taking it one game at a time. Getting off to 1-0 in region play is big.”

Despite falling to rival Goshen in week two, it has been a wonderful start to the season for Kilcrease and the Purple Cats.

“We knew going in that Goshen was going to be a big test, but I thought it was a good thing,” Kilcrease said. “That gave us an idea of where we are at. We are excited about where we are. Obviously we would love to be 3-0, but it could be a lot worse as well.”

This week the Cats go up against a Geneva County team that accomplished something that no other team in their region has done in a long time; handing G.W. Long their first region loss since 2013.

“They are very athletic and big up front,” Kilcrease said. “They have a very good football team and they have a lot of guys back from last year. They are a solid football team.”

The Bulldogs average 25 points per game despite featuring a heavy run game.

“They want to run the ball on offense,” Kilcrease said. “They can throw it and they spread you out a lot. When it comes down to it they are really good at running the football.”

On defense the Bulldogs allowed just seven points to G.W. Long last week. They like to crowd the box and make you throw the football.

“It’s a lot like what we saw last week against Cottonwood,” Kilcrease said. “They are going to load the box and dare you to throw the football. We have to be able to do that.”

Ariton is 5-6 all time against Geneva County. They fell to the Bulldogs 45-20 a season ago.

Kick off set for 7 p.m.