FAYETTE — After Jefferson County lost 41-14 to Natchez High in their season opener on Sept. 20, Tigers coach James Herrington challenged his team.

“After we lost to Natchez I told our guys we didn’t have to lose any more games unless we wanted to,” Herrington said.

And the team has taken that challenge to heart, having won three straight games since their opening defeat, including a 28-24 win over South Pike last Friday, which was Jefferson County’s first win over the Eagles since 1970.

But while the team is riding high after that win, the real season starts Friday as the Tigers open Region 7-3A play against Amite County.

“Last week was a big win, but the next game is a big win too,” Herrington said. “All of them from here on out are big wins.”

Amite County is struggling through a 2-3 start to the season, which includes a 48-8 loss to North Pike last week.

However, Herrington said the Tigers can’t afford to overlook the Trojans, especially with this being the first region game of the season.

“Pretty much what we’ve done goes for naught if we don’t play hard in all three phases of the game,” Herrington said. “We’re trying to get the guys to see that (last week’s win) is over with. It was good, but we’ve got to win games in October. That will determine our success.”

And Herrington said a key to victory Friday is not making mistakes against the undermanned Trojans.

“Amite County is small in numbers but they’ll play you until the end,” Herrington said. “We’ve got to take care of the football and not turn it over. There are upsets all the time. We don’t want to be that upset this weekend.”