MEADVILLE — For the second year in a row, Jefferson County High School will make the short bus ride to Meadville to take on the Franklin County High School Bulldogs in a big MHSAA Region 7-3A game for both teams. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

And Tigers head coach James Herrington has still not forgotten about what happened last year. Neither have the players that were on the losing end of a stunning outcome that seek revenge this year.

“Having a 1-8 record always makes a team dangerous. They made it dangerous to us last year. They beat us last year and knocked us out of the playoffs and they got in with one win,” Herrington said.

Actually, Franklin County went into last year’s game at 0-9 overall and 0-3 in region play. All the Tigers had to do was win and they were in. Instead, the Bulldogs came out on top 31-0 and got in as the region’s No. 4 seed because of three-team tiebreaker that also involved Wilkinson County High School.

“That left a bitter taste in my mouth as well as the players that were there last year that are still here,” Herrington said.

Jefferson County heads into Friday night’s match-up at 5-2 overall and 2-1 in region play after defeating Hazlehurst High School 28-6. Yet Herrington wasn’t too thrilled with his team’s performance in the first half.

“We’ve got to do a better job of starting early. We played a pretty good second half,” Herrington said. “But the first half, we made quite a few mistakes. I need our team to understand that we can’t start slow with the playoffs coming.”

Franklin County is coming off a bye week after picking up its first win of the season, a hard-fought 7-6 win at Port Gibson High School on Oct. 12 to put the Bulldogs at 1-8 overall and 1-2 in region play. And that is one of the things that has Herrington concerned the most. Another thing that has him concerned is the Bulldogs’ defensive line.

“Defensive line wise, they are pretty big. They’re very big at the ends. Their size with Franklin County is always an issue,” Herrington said.

With two weeks to prepare for Jefferson County, Bulldogs head coach Trey Woodard said there has been nothing specific his team has working on in practice.

“We’re just practicing. We’ve got to be ready for everything,” Woodard said.

When asked what concerns him the most about the Tigers, Woodard said, “They’re good up front on defense. They have a talented running back in Domonique Gaines.”

Herrington said the seniors are going to have to step up and have a big game for the Tigers to leave victorious and clinch a home game in the first round of the upcoming Class 3A South State Playoffs.

“The seniors are going to have to lead. A team is only as good as its senior leadership. Last week, we had seniors play big minutes and make big plays down the stretch. They’re going to have to show the young players how to play in these types of games,” Herrington said.

Franklin County looks to carry that momentum it got from its win two weeks ago into Friday night’s home contest.

“We just hope they can keep executing. Actually, we hope they can execute even better,” Woodard said.

Woodard added that a win would definitely put the Bulldogs in the playoffs. He added that he and his team are just worried about Friday night and that everything else after that would settle itself. He noted that the offensive line will have to step up and play a big game for Franklin County to come out with the win.

As to where they would finish in Region 7-3A if that were to happen, he said, “I don’t know what the scenarios are. That would create a three-way tie, depending on what happens with Port Gibson and Hazlehurst.”