Andalusia and Straughn will duke it out once again this Friday night in Headland to see who has what it takes to advance.

The Bulldogs and Tigers enter the first round of the Class 4A, Area 3 record as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.

AHS coach Richard Robertson said right now the team is working on themselves, and will focus on Straughn the day before the game.

“We worked on nothing but fundamentals,” Robertson said about Monday’s practice. “They’ve got a good basketball team. (SHS) Coach (Rusty) Andrews does a good job of utilizing his personnel.

“Right now, we’re just working on Andalusia, and we’ll do just like we always do,” he said.

To end the regular season, Andalusia squared off against rival Opp in OHS and came away with a big 72-43 win over the Bobcats. The Bulldogs finished their final week 2-1 with their only loss to Brantley in a close game. AHS is 16-13 going into Friday night’s game.

Straughn beat Georgiana 49-43 on Monday night to end the regular season on a seven-game win streak to improve to 13-11 on the season.

“I expect to get Andalusia’s best,” Andrews said. “The coach there is going to have them ready. We’re going to have to play our very best to even have a chance.”

When asked how many times over will it take to beat AHS compared to Monday night’s game, Andrews said his defense will have to keep the Bulldogs scoring low.

“We know that we’ve got to keep the score in the 50s or 40s to have an opportunity,” he said. “Unless we get cheap buckets, which we’re not going to get those against them.”

During area play this season, Andalusia and Straughn finished 1-1. The Tigers beat the Bulldogs 52-42 on Jan. 3, and then AHS won the second meeting on Jan. 17, 44-37.

But, the regular season doesn’t matter anymore.

When it comes down to it, Andalusia and Straughn are competing for the chance to play in the sub regional.

“Everybody’s trying to win,” Robertson said. “Half the teams in the state are going to lose. We’re just going to come in and do like we always do. We’re going to go out and try to get it done. We’re going to make the adjustments if we have to and do the best we can.

“We’ve just got to go in there and get to work and see what we can get done,” he said.

Andrews said the team is looking forward to the third meeting of the season.

“It gives us another opportunity,” he said. “We’re just thankful to play them.”

Tip off in Headland is at 5:30 p.m.