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NATCHEZ — After two tough losses that knocked them out of the MAIS District 3-5A title picture, the Adams County Christian School Rebels will look to bounce back when they host the Amite School Center Rebels at Bobby Marks Stadium for homecoming at 7 p.m. Friday.

ACCS dropped to 5-3 overall after a 42-13 setback at Parklane Academy last Friday night, one of the top if not the top team in the power points ratings in Class 5A. Amite School Center fell to 0-7 overall after losing at Bowling Green School 36-13 last Friday night in a District 3-4A game.

Last year when the two teams met at Amite School Center in Liberty, ACCS came away with a 35-0 victory. While the host Rebels will look to end a two-game skid following losses to Parklane and before that at home to Silliman Institute, the visiting Rebels from Liberty will seek to avenge last year’s loss and finally get into the win column.

“Obviously, one of the biggest games of the year is also the homecoming game,” ACCS assistant coach Matthew Freeman said. “We’ve had some good practices (this week). They’re eager to bounce back with a win, but we know the distractions will be there. They won’t be (totally) focused, but we hope we can get a win.”

And it may not be as easy as it was last year for a couple of reasons — first, ACCS is banged up and, second, Amite School Center likes to throw the ball. A whole lot. Perhaps more than some teams do in two or three games combined.

“We have three or four players who will be sitting out. They won’t be playing. Hopefully, we can get them rested up,” Freeman said. “They threw 50, 60 passes last week. We need to work on our pass coverage, anyway. It’ll be a good test for our secondary.”

He then said that he has no idea what kind of defense the visiting Rebels will throw at them, adding, “Our offensive game plan, we’re going to run the ball. If we run the ball, they’ll probably put seven, eight in the box. The game’s going to dictate what they’re going to do.”

One thing that ACCS is working on in practice this week is its conditioning level. Freeman added that some of players cramped up during the second half of last week’s loss at Parklane.

“We played a really good first half against them. But for some reason, we couldn’t do in the second half what we did in the first half. We have to play well for four quarters,” Freeman said.

Freeman said that the only thing that concerns him about Amite School Center is its passing game, adding, “If we blow some coverages, they’re going to have three or four receiving touchdowns.”

As for who needs to step up for ACCS to get back to its winning ways, Freeman said, “Our offensive line and our defensive line. It all starts there.”