The Florala Wildcats (1-4, 0-3) know they are in for a tough match Friday night when they travel to McKenzie to take on the Tigers (4-2, 3-1) in a Class 1A, Region 2 contest.

“McKenzie looks good,” Wildcats’ head coach Brad Rhodes said. “They have a lot of speed and they are very physical. Their running back, No. 3 (Robert Shufford), that will be the fastest guy we see all year.”

Coming into the game, McKenzie has scored 232 points and only given up 144 points. Florala has scored 92 points and given up 264.

“Our key on defense, will  be to protect the corners and keep them off the edge,” Rhodes said. “We have to play sound fundamentally, making sure we are in the right position. That is something we have struggled with.”

Florala will look to rebound after a tough 68-6 loss at the hands of Brantley.

“Our keys on offense, will be to establish the run, control the clock and finish drives. We challenged the guys this week to play with more pride and passion than what we saw last week.”

McKenzie defeated Red Level last week by a score of 41-8.

Florala still has an outside shot at making the playoffs, but in order to do so they must win their remaining three region contest.

McKenzie has wrapped up at least the No. 3 seed for Region 2, but several scenarios where they could end up as the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. McKenzie’s only region loss came a few weeks ago at the hands of the current top seed in Region 2, Georgiana, with a final score of 38-12. Their other loss was to Class 3A’s Hillcrest-Evergreen, 43-12.

Kickoff between the Wildcats and the Tigers will be at 7 p.m., Friday in McKenzie.