Pleasant Home coach Robert Bradford said this week’s region road contest against J.F. Shields is “step two” of a three-step process to earn a berth in the playoffs this season.

“The big thing this week is to persevere to get to the playoffs,” he said.

Last week, the Eagles completed step one — what Bradford called an “emotional” game in a 38-36 win over Georgiana.

“We had to overcome a lot to gain a victory last week,” he said. “We’re just trying hard to not have an emotional melt down (against J.F. Shields).”

Bradford said J.F. Shields will present the same problems Georgiana did against his team this week. In addition, the Panthers’ only win this season was against Florala on Oct. 1.

As far as region standings are concerned, in Class 1A, Region 2, Pleasant Home is currently sitting at 2-3, just below Geneva County, who is 3-2 in the region. The Eagles play Geneva County in their last region contest of the season.

In order to earn a playoff berth and the No. 4 seed, the Eagles will have to win these next two region games.

For Pleasant Home to do that, Bradford said his team must play with a lot of “passion.”

“For us to be successful, we’ve got to play Pleasant Home-style football,” Bradford said. “We have to be a little meaner tougher and physicall. If we don’t come into the game, and we don’t have a lot of passion, then that will really hurt us. That’s what we do well — play with a lot of passion.”

Kickoff in Beatrice is at 7 p.m.