NATCHEZ — Paul Hayles and Sam Byrd IV have been on the same football field before.

This time, it’s different.

From 2001-2006 Hayles led the defense at Wilkinson County Christian Academy and Byrd stood alongside him as an assistant coach.

The two men, both head coaches now, will square off along the hash marks at Adams County Christian School at 7 p.m. Friday.

And they admit there will be some emotion at Bobby Marks Stadium when Byrd’s WCCA team takes on Hayles’ ACCS squad.

“I expect a lot of effort from both teams,” Hayles said. “Excitement will be high whenever it’s the first game, and me being there last year will add to it.”

Hayles said that in practice his defense has been preparing for the passing game that he expects to see from WCCA. “We expect them to throw the ball a lot and use their speed,” he said.

Hayles also said that his offense has been preparing for the season — “fine-tuning it and trying to execute it properly.”

“I would expect it to be a close game. I expect it to be a hard-hitting contest,” Byrd said. “I coached with coach Hayles for six years. I know how he coaches and I expect his boys to play ball.”

Byrd went on to say that there is no animosity between he and Hayles and that he wishes Hayles the best at ACCS.

“He’s a great friend of mine. We’ve had a lot of good times. He’s a fun guy to be around. I’m sure this week will be a fun week. He’s a good fellow.”

With this being the first game of the season for both teams, Byrd said that the team that executes the game plan the best and makes the fewest mistakes will win the game. He also said that his team will start preparing for the ACCS game today.

“We’ve just been preparing for the season so far. We’ve been working on our offense and getting our base defense set. The main thing we’re worried about is conditioning and making sure (our players) can play a full game.”

Hayles also said that conditioning and which team wants it more should determine the outcome of the game.

“Emotions are always part of the game,” Hayles said. “They have a fine group of kids down there and it will be tough playing against them.”