MEADVILLE —Franklin County might have suffered back-to-back heartbreaking losses the last two weeks, but the Bulldogs get a chance to wipe the slate clean and start all over Friday night.

Despite their consecutive losses to end the regular season, Franklin County (4-7) still advanced to the playoffs thanks to Tylertown’s victory over Wilkinson County last Friday.

But Franklin County will have to hit the road for the first round, as the Bulldogs, the No. 3 team from Region 7, will play Collins, the No. 2 team from Region 8.

“I think out of the four teams that made the playoffs in our region (Tylertown, Hazlehurst, Franklin County and Jefferson County), we’ve got the toughest draw,” Franklin County head coach Ricky O’Quinn said. “Collins is a good, physical football team. They will line up and hit you. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Collins finished the regular season with a 7-4 record and a 4-1 record in Region 8.

A 14-13 loss to West Marion two weeks ago was their only blemish in region play.

They actually were one of three teams with a 4-1 region record, but finished second behind Seminary thanks to the tiebreaker.

Franklin County finished its regular season with a 2-3 region record, but were only a couple of plays from possibly being 4-1.

The Bulldogs lost to Tylertown 15-14 two weeks ago after having a 14-9 lead deep into the fourth quarter.

But that loss didn’t compare to the gut-wrenching defeat last week, when the Bulldogs overcame a 22-9 fourth-quarter deficit to Jefferson County to take a 23-22 lead with 1:35 left only to see the Tigers storm back to score the winning touchdown with two seconds remaining.

“We had two losses decided by five points or less,” O’Quinn said. “We lost two heartbreakers right there in the fourth quarter. (The players) know if they took care of business we’ve be 4-1 and in a three-way tie for first place. But we can’t keep talking about that. We’ve just got to talk about Collins and go from there.”

O’Quinn said any hangover from the Jefferson County loss diminished when the players found out they were still in the playoffs despite the defeat.

“They have put it behind them,” O’Quinn said. “They showed up (for practice) excited about still having a chance to be in the playoffs. Once they found out we were still alive, they were excited.”