WOODVILLE — A tough loss to Franklin County last week has put Wilkinson County behind, and the Wildcats are looking to regroup against another cross-county rival Friday.

Wilkinson County (4-2, 0-1) will host Jefferson County (4-1, 1-0) at 7 Friday night, and head coach Elbert Lyles said his players are trying to put last week’s defeat behind them.

“The kids bounced back this week and came ready to work, so that’s been a positive. It’s not like they’re down on themselves,” Lyles said.

“They understand that we didn’t do what we needed to do in that game, but we just tell them that game is behind us, and we’re looking forward.”

Jefferson County will pose quite a test for the Wildcats, Lyles said, and he singled out two of their players that his team would have to keep in check.

“Their quarterback, Kiwaski Tenner, does a good job, and he loves to keep the ball and run it. They have a back (Robert Wells) that has good speed and can run it on the corners,” Lyles said.

“They have a pretty good offensive line that does a good job getting a good push, and they like to run at you. Overall, they’re a good football team.”

Practice this week for the Wildcats has been dedicated to working on endurance, in hopes that they won’t fall behind like they did against Franklin County.

“We’re working on trying to finish a ball game and not letting a team jump on us early, things of that nature. We’re just trying to improve on a lot of things mentally,” he said.

And Wilkinson County views Friday’s game as a must-win.

“We don’t want to be 0-2 in the district. That puts you in a bad position. We don’t want to dig a hole and depend on other people to lose,” Lyles said.

“We win Friday night, we’re back in the race. That will put us in the position to kind of see our own way.”

Jefferson County will be looking to continue some early success in district play this week. After defeating Amite County last week, the Tigers will be going for win No. 2 in Region 7-3A.

“The second season began last Friday. All the games we played before then, they don’t mean anything,” Tigers head coach James Herrington said.

“I told the team we had to refocus ourselves coming into October, because if we don’t win in October, we won’t be playing in November.”

Herrington said he sees Wilkinson County as a team that has constantly gotten better over the last few years.

“Starting back two years ago, you can see the improvement and the direction they’re going in. They’re a team that needs to be watched, even if they’re coming off a loss,” Herrington said.

Herrington also said he’s not buying into the idea that Wilkinson County will be a cakewalk after its loss to Franklin County.

“We saw on film that there we’re several plays that Franklin County was able to get on Wilkinson County, and there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to get those plays,” he said.

“That game could have been a lot closer than it was.”