The Opp Bobcats (0-2, 0-1) hope to celebrate homecoming with a win as they get ready to host Houston Academy (1-1, 0-1) tonight in Opp.

“The first game special teams hurt us and last week I didn’t feel like we played four quarters,” Opp head coach Brent Hill said. “I would like to see us grow up a little. We have to protect the ball and move the ball with more consistency.”

Hill said that the Bobcats have been working hard this week at practice.

“Practice has been good this week,” Hill said. “We have been putting a lot of new guys in new positions. That changes the way you coach because there is more attention to detail because you aren’t dealing with experience. The kids have responded well, but there are still some that are nervous because it’s the first time they have been out there.”

Getting the new faces ready for action is something that Hill said they have been working on this week.

“You have to get them ready to get out there,” Hill said. “The key is to get them confident enough so that when the live bullets are fired at them they know how to respond. We’ve been stressing fundamentals this week. You can’t put a lot on them because of the inexperience so we want to limit the bad situations that they could get into.”

Houston Academy is now coached by longtime T.R. Miller coach Jamie Riggs.

“They run an offense that is very similar to what T.R. Miller used to run,” Hill said. “On defense, they are a hardnosed football team that runs a lot of a five-man front with slants. When you get into a spread offense, they move into a four-man front.”

Opp is still looking to get in the win column after falling to Elba (53-33) to start the season and then falling to Straughn (36-30) in overtime to start region play last week.

Houston Academy picked up a win right out of the gate when they knocked off McKenzie (48-12) to start the year, but the lost to Pike County (39-7) last week in region action.

Kickoff between Opp and Houston Academy is set for 7 p.m.