The Pleasant Home Eagles have been “fired up” since last week’s loss to Samson and are ready for their first region game against Ariton tonight.

The Eagles lost to Samson, 21-14, and to make matters worse, the team has had a number of players out sick with the flu this week.

But Pleasant Home coach Robert Bradford said the players are healthy and believe they can get that first win this week.

“Getting people better from the flu is about the best thing we’ve done all week,” Bradford said. “The flu bug has hit us pretty good this week, but we’ve gotten through it and we made it and we’ve got a majority of the kids back and ready to go. We’re excited to play Friday night and get the region under way.”

Bradford said after the game last Friday night, the players felt as if something was “taken from them.”

“They believe that they had one taken from them and they had a legitimate chance of taking them,” he said. “They’re fired up and ready to go and it’s definitely not been a week of wailing with our heads down. It’s been more of a week where we’re proving ourselves that we are a better team than what our record shows.

Bradford said Ariton’s key player is running back Craig Sanders.

“He’s already committed to Alabama, and besides him, they are very young and inexperienced,” he said. “I think we need to come in and play our brand of football and go and get after it and play hard for four quarters. We should be all right.”