Tonight is when it counts.

Andalusia will hit the road to face Carroll-Ozark for the 2010 season opener in Ozark, and Bulldogs head coach Brian Seymore said his players are “excited.”

“All of the players are excited about playing because it’s opening night for the football season,” Seymore said. “It counts.”

Carroll-Ozark is in Class 5A, and only won one game last season. This season, the Eagles have a new coaching staff headed by Chad Lapp. Lapp was at Charles Henderson High School in Troy as an assistant. In addition, the new defensive coordinator at Carroll-Ozark is former Opp coach Greg Ennis.

Seymore said one thing that concerns him is the Eagles’ “speed.”

“They have a lot of speed on offense, and that’s what scares me because they do run the spread offense,” he said. “They’ve got some track guys on the outside that can really run. So, the speed and space theory gives me some concern because we’ve got to be able to play assignment football.

“We’ve got to be able to tackle well, and we definitely can’t blow our coverages,” he said. “That all goes back to communication. All of our kids have to communicate with each other.”

The Eagles have Brock Peterman to lead the Tony Franklin-style offense at quarterback. In addition, wide receivers John Ross and Quadarian Broome will be another threat for the Bulldogs.

Given their speed and experience on the offensive side of the ball, Seymore said he will throw “a lot of different looks” at them.

“We’ll give them a lot of different looks, and a lot of different blitz screens,” he said. “We’ve got to be leery for the screen game. It all boils back down to playing assignment football and tackling. That’s what it’s going to come down to on defense.”

To help lead the defense will be senior linebacker Johnnie Jones. Seymore said it will be crucial for Jones to effectively get the message across to his teammates.

“He’s going to definitely get the responsibility of making the defensive checks up front, and in the secondary,” Seymore said. “Robert Woodall does a good job in the secondary as a safety to make sure that everybody is lined up. It’s going to be a group effort on defense.”

Last week, the Bulldogs pounded Luverne 28-0, where senior Derrick King led in rushing with 12 carries for 183 yards and four touchdowns.

Seymore said he will use the best players who can make plays on offense.

“Offensively, it’s not really about who’s running the ball, it’s going to start with the guys up front,” he said. “The offensive line will be the ones who set the tone up front.

“We’ll use those guys to manage the game, whoever has the ability to carry the ball, run the ball hard, and have the abiilty to make plays,” he said.

Seymore said he hopes tonight’s game result is a positive for the start of the season.

“We’re excited as coaches and players to kick the season off, and we want to start off on a positive note, and that’s with a victory on (tonight),” Seymore said.

Kickoff at Matthews Stadium in Ozark is at 7 p.m.

Injury update: Andalusia’s Omar Feagin was injured at Wednesday’s practice, and Seymore said his status is “week-to-week.”