Florala will be aiming to start the fire back up tonight as the Wildcats visit J.U. Blacksher in Uriah.

After their preseason and first game wins, the Wildcats have lost three straight to competitive opponents Geneva County, Brantley and Pleasant Home.

J.U. Blacksher is 0-4, but let that not deceive you, FHS head football coach Justin Jones said.

“They’re a quality football team,” Jones said. “They play in a region that’s loaded with a lot of speed. If they’ve got anything, they’ve got speed.”

The Bulldogs are in Class 1A, Region 1 and have played Linden, McIntosh and A.L. Johnson so far in region play.

“They’ve played quality opponents,” Jones said. “They’re a lot like us with a lot of heavy hitters at the beginning of the schedule. It’s going to be a fight. It’s going to be a good football game.”

Last week at Pleasant Home, Florala got out to a good 12-0 lead, but faltered, allowing the Eagles to score 32 unanswered points for a loss.

Jones said playing football is a lot like life, with its ups and downs.

“Life in general is a roller coaster ride,” he said. “I’m learning more about that the older I get. With situations with my youngest son (Kaleb, is undergoing treatment for a Wilms tumor).

“It’s going to throw you a curve ball,” he said. “It’s how you handle the good things, how you handle the bad things in life, the ups and downs, that really determines a lot about your character in life.”

With this roller-coaster type season progressing for FHS, Jones said the team desperately wants to kindle the fire back like it was at the beginning of the season.

“If something good happens with us, we want to throw some gasoline on fire to keep it going,” he said. “If something bad happens to us, then we want to step on it, find a blanket and put it out.

“We’ve just got to do a better job of that, being able to handle the ups and downs of a football game,” he said. “Regardless of who you play, there’s going to be some ups and downs in a football game.”

Kick off in Uriah tonight is at 7.