Tonight’s area contest against Ashford will be the start of a two-game stretch for second-ranked Andalusia.

After playing the Yellow Jackets, the Bulldogs will play host to fifth-ranked Calera on Saturday night.

But right now, Ashford is the main focus, AHS boys coach Richard Robertson said.

“Ashford is very talented, and they’ve got good athletes,” Robertson said. “They have good athletes and a lot of them.

“The key to our success has always been our defense,” he said. “Now, we’re not playing as well as I’d like. I don’t want to find out what’s going to happen later in the game — I want you to have a killer instinct from the beginning.”

Andalusia’s first area contest against Ashford took place on the road on Jan. 11. The Bulldogs (20-2, 4-0 in Class 4A, Area 3) beat the Yellow Jackets 71-59. Andalusia held a 14-point lead at one point during the game, but allowed Ashford to come back to within two points.

In the end, the Bulldogs were fortunate to sink free throws to win the game, Robertson said.

“It doesn’t matter who you are on a given night, you can get beat,” he said. “You can get beat on any given night. You’re not playing against your opponent, you’re playing against perfection.”

Robertson said Ashford played their game last Tuesday night, which gave his team troubles.

“We executed the last four minutes, but we let them back in it,” Robertson said. “You don’t take anyting away from them. We needed to try to stop them.

“We’ve got to execute our plan because when you play against people with structure, you don’t understand the trick they are in,” he said.

Tip off tonight is around 7:30 p.m.