The Straughn Tigers (2-5, 2-2) want to continue to improve as they prepare to take on Wicksburg (3-3, 1-3) on Friday in Straughn.

“Our biggest thing is to approach every game knowing that we have to be more physical on offense and defense,” Straughn coach Jarrod Wooten said. “We have to go out and set the tone early. We have to establish that physical mentality early and be more aggressive. We have to take it to the other team. That fits our mentality and the kids are having fun and buying in.”

Wooten said the Tigers still have plenty of room to improve.

“Last week, we did an excellent job executing our game plan,” Wooten said. “We still had too many penalties still. We felt like we left a lot of opportunities on the table last week. We still have room to improve.”

Despite a 1-3 record in the region, Wooten said that Wicksburg is going to be a tough team.

“They are very capable of beating any team in this region,” Wooten said. “They are big, physical and have a great running game. We have to be able to stop there run game.”

With the threat of Hurricane Michael looming over Covington County, Wooten said that Tuesday’s practice becomes even more important.

“Today has to be our best practice of the week,” Wooten said. “We just don’t know what the rest of the week is going to hold so we are trying to get in as much as we can today. We went out this morning before school and we are getting ready to go back out this afternoon. With school out tomorrow (Wednesday), we have to really focus on getting as much done today as we can.”

Wooten said the players are excited about still being in the running for the playoffs, but they also understand there is still work to be done.

“The excitement level is high, but we know we still aren’t playing up to our potential,” Wooten said. “We still have to correct some things that are causing issues. Right now, I would say we have guarded optimism. We feel like we can play with any team in the region if we play up to our potential, but we just haven’t been able to do that.”

Friday night will also be Senior Night for the Tigers.

“We are looking for a big crowd on Friday,” Wooten said. “These kids need the support of the community. Hopefully, the weather should be cleared out by Friday and we want a big crowd to support this team.”