CENTREVILLE — A mistake too many people made was believing Centreville Academy wasn’t good this season after an 0-3 start to its season.

That’s what Adams County Christian head coach Paul Hayles said Tuesday as his team is preparing to travel to Centreville Friday to take on the Tigers.

“They weren’t bad to start with. They were pretty good then, it just didn’t go their way in those ball games,” Hayles said.

“They’ve gotten progressively better each week.”

Both teams look to bring a physical brand of football to the table Friday, and Hayles said his players would have to be able to respond to getting hit hard.

“When you play them, you have to be prepared for four quarters of physical football,” Hayles said.

“Unless you’re an extremely fast team that can get out on the corners and stay away from them, you’re going to get bruised when you play them. You have to be willing to stand up there and meet the challenge.”

Centreville assistant coach Brian Stutzman said he also expects a physical game from the Rebels.

“They’re a powerful team, and they have some pretty good skill players,” Stutzman said.

“We know about Brandon Sanders, and their fullback, Christopher Perry, is a load. They also have a guy (Rusty Blackwell) who did a good job for them last week.”

Stutzman also didn’t downplay the Rebels’ ability to throw the ball if needed.

“Their quarterback Johnny Smith throws the ball well, and their No. 20 (Daniel Guedon) goes and gets the long ball every game,” Stutzman said.

“They do throw the ball. They’re deceiving. They’ll run, run, run and catch you asleep when throwing it, so you have to be ready.”

ACCS is focused on getting healthy this week, and Hayles said it’s still a day-to-day thing with starting running back Brandon Sanders, who is out with a strained abdominal muscle.

“It’s just in a place where all they can do is work to strengthen it. It’s one of those things where you wish he was full speed, but right now you just take what you can get,” Hayles said.

However, numerous other bumps and bruises won’t stop the Rebels from giving it their all Friday night, Hayles said.

“Between the casts and knee braces, we’re going to play ball Friday. This is week 10, so everyone’s banged up to an extent.”

Centreville also has a few minor injures, Stutzman said, but nothing major. With just two more district games to go against ACCS and Central Private, the Tigers are hoping to finish the regular season strong, Stutzman said.

“We have to go through ACCS to give us a chance to win the conference. (Winning out) is important in the seed and important in winning the district championship,” he said.

Kickoff at Centreville is at 7 p.m. Friday.