The Wilkinson County High School Wildcats will be seeking a measure of revenge Friday night when they travel to DeKalb to take on the defending MHSAA Class 3A state champion Kemper County High School Wildcats.

Kickoff between the visiting Wildcats and the host Wildcats is slated for 7 p.m. Last year, Kemper County defeated Wilkinson County 36-16 in the second round of the Class 3A South State Playoffs.

However, neither team is the same team it was last year — and for vastly different reasons.

Wilkinson County (1-3) has been shut out in its last two games and is on a two-game losing streak after falling to St. Charles Catholic (La.) High School 20-0 last Friday night.

“I think we played harder than we did the previous week (a 34-0 loss at Heidelberg High School). Defensively, I think we did well, being down just 7-0 at halftime,” head coach Kenneth Brown said. “Hats off to the defense for playing well against a school that size. They’re a 3A team. They’re ranked No. 3 in the state. They had the numbers on us.”

On the other hand, Brown said the offense has to get in the end zone and cut down on the penalties for Wilkinson County to get back in the win column.

“I guess overall, we’re still having problems trying to score. We received the opening kickoff last week and we had three penalties to start the opening drive. It’s hard to win games when that happens,” Brown said. “We couldn’t get a drive going because of penalties. We’ve talked about it. We’ve worked on it. It’s something we should be doing better on by now.”

Brown said improvements also need to be made in the trenches — both offensively and defensively.

“We’ve got big kids. We’re trying to figure out how to move them off the ball. They won’t go ahead and attack,” Brown said. “It seems like we’re trying to take the first punch instead of delivering it.”

Kemper County is also in a rebuilding mode after going 15-1 en route to winning the state title. Those Wildcats are off to an 0-5 start after losing to West Lauderdale 30-6 last Friday night.

“They’re pretty much like we are. They lost a lot of good players from that state championship team. And having a new (head) coach as well. I think that’s the reason they’re struggling,” Brown said. “They like to run the spread. They run a 4-front defensively.”