MEADVILLE — Franklin County football coach Trent Hammond calls Charleston, “one of the toughest teams in the state,” a big test for the 2-0 Bulldogs on Friday.

The Region 4-3A Tigers are 1-1 following a loss to Oxford and a blowout of West Tallahatchie, and Hammond said it is difficult to prepare for the contest.

“You can’t simulate their size and speed. All you can do is prepare yourself for the things they’re going to try to do to you,” he said.

Hammond said the Tigers are traditionally a strong team and one with which he is quite familiar.

“The one thing that really stands out is they’ll hit you. That’s the one thing you know,” he said. “When you play those guys they’re going to hit you. We’ve got to be man enough to stand there and take it and hit back.”

Hammond also said the Bulldogs will have to get out of their own way on Friday.

Franklin County has had trouble scoring in red-zone opportunities due to careless mistakes.

“We move the ball extremely well until we get inside the 20-yard line, then we sort of shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties,” Hammond said. “If we were baseball team, we would probably be leaving a lot of runners on base right now.”

That will have to change against Charleston, who has allowed 34 points to its two opponents this season, if the 3-A Region 7 Bulldogs want any chance to win.

Hammond said they will have to stay focused and put points on the board. They did it against McComb in a 35-6 win, and he hopes they do a better job of scoring on Friday.

“We’re going to have to play a perfect game,” he said. “We’ve got to be hard and fast on defense, and we need to be clean on offense.”