With all of the distractions that come with homecoming week, Andalusia head football coach Brian Seymore said the Bulldogs have done a great job staying focused on the task at hand.

Andalusia is hosting Hillcrest-Evergreen tonight for its homecoming in a Class 4A, Region 1 match up at AHS Municipal Stadium.

The Bulldogs (2-0, 1-0) are coming off a 47-14 victory over Monroe County last week. The Jaguars, who are a deceptive 0-2 on the year, lost 31-7 to defending state champion, UMS-Wright.

In fact, HEH led 7-6 over UMS at halftime.

“This is a pretty solid football team,” Seymore said about the Jaguars. “The people who beat them went through a couple of spirts of four or five minutes in each game where they gave up a big turnover or a big play on special teams that kind of hurt them.

“We hope we can find ways to exploit them on special teams or find ways to exploit them in other areas,” he said. “It’s going to be a game of momentum. That’s the way it was last year.”

Last year’s game saw AHS fall behind early to the Jaguars, but it later bounced back to pull away with the win.

The offensive key for the Jaguars comes in the form of Keyshawn Roache, who serves as Hillcrest-Evergreen’s quarterback.

Seymore said Roache is similar to the quarterback the team saw last week.

“He has a very strong arm and throws the deep ball very well,” Seymore said about Roache. “He also has the ability to pull down and run it. That’s always a concern for us is to get the quarterback.”

Hillcrest-Evergreen’s physical play starts at the running back position, where Ramaan King sits on the throne.

King blasted his way to a 101-yard performance against UMS last week.

Seymore said King runs the ball like an ideal running back.

“That’s the same back that ran against us last year,” the coach said. “The young man can run the football hard. He runs the ball like he’s supposed to run it. He squares his shoulder pads and gets behind those big linemen.”

The Jaguars are coached by Larry Boykin, who is an old-school type coach Seymore said.

Seymore said Hillcrest-Evergreen does three things well in any given game.

“Their deal is to control the time of possession, keep your offense off the field and continue to get first downs,” he said. “That’s when they’re at their best. When they’re doing that, then they move those chains and give people problems.”

Coming out early and putting points on the board on offense, and stopping the Jaguars’ power running game are the two big keys for Andalusia tonight, Seymore said.

Now that the game is only hours away, the Andalusia seniors don’t want to have a repeat of last year’s homecoming game against Clarke County.

Seymore said the loss last season and the players’ focus have helped in the team’s preparation for a quality Jaguars opponent.

“I really feel like our kids have done a good job in preparation,” Seymore said. “I felt like the focus has been there at practice.”

The main emphasis for Andalusia this week is to get a win for those coming back to watch their alma mater play, the coach said.

“People will be coming back,” Seymore said. “There will be a lot of festivities. There will be things going on, so our main emphasis is to try and win the football game.”

Kick off tonight is at 7.