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The Pike County Bulldogs (2-2) step away from region play this Friday, Sept. 29, to face off against Class 5A’s Headland Rams (3-1) at home.

Pike County is coming off a frustrating 22-13 loss to Opp on the road last week.

“Last week we had a lot of turnovers. We played hard and only held them to 185 total yards,” PCHS Coach Mark Hurt said. “We made some crucial turnovers in the red-zone and gave them a short field at times and had some penalties that really hurt us that were uncharacteristic of us. We have to clean that up and play a clean game. We also have some injuries we’re dealing with, so we have to have some guys step up.”

Pike County now turns it attention to Headland, who is coming off a bye week. Prior to that, the Rams started the season off with a 45-6 win over Geneva and a 38-8 win over Abbeville before falling to Eufaula 56-14. Headland’s last game was a 22-6 win over Rehobeth on Sept. 15.

“Headland has a very fast and shifty quarterback and they also have a tight end/defensive end that’s being recruited by colleges,” Hurt said of Headland. “They’re playing well together right now. They’re 3-1 and we have to play a complete game and minimize the turnovers and penalties for sure.”

Pike County holds a 17-6 edge in the series between the two schools, including an 18-13 win over Headland last season. The Bulldogs are on a 12-game winning streak against the Rams, last losing 6-0 in 1986.

Hurt and his Dawgs are concentrated on returning focused this week.

“I just want to see our guys execute,” Hurt said. “I know they’ll play hard but we need to execute better and play very focused football. We have to be more focused, I think we got a little unfocused last week at points in the game.

“We also have to learn to deal with adversity. I don’t think we handled adversity very well. In a football game, things will happen that don’t normally happen and you have to learn how to deal with it and adjust and continue to play.”