Pleasant Home (0-5, 0-2) continues to battle for win No. 1 of the 2015 season, and the Eagles know this week’s task won’t be an easy one as they travel to Georgiana to take on the Panthers (5-1, 3-0).

“They are the team to beat this year,” Pleasant Home head coach Chris Mason said of Georgiana. “Mathematically, we aren’t eliminated from the playoffs. We just have to find our reason to play. A lot of times that reason might be just to play for pride.”

This will be the sixth time the two squads have squared off, with the Eagles leading the overall series 3-2. Last season, Georgiana stifled the Eagles with in a 35-0 contest.

“They are the probably the fastest team in our area,” Mason said. “They are probably the most athletic team we will play all season, but they are coming off a tough loss to Greenville. They are going to be a little banged up from that game, and we will have to take advantage of any opportunities that we might have.”

The Eagles put up a valiant effort last Friday night, but came up just short against a tough J.U. Blacksher team.

So far for the 2015 season, the Panthers have been one of the most dominate teams in Class 1A and have piled up a class-high 236 points on the year.

The Panthers’ defense hasn’t been to shabby either as they are allowing less than 10 points a game for the 2015 season.

“I’m not going to say that they are unbeatable, but we are going to have to have a lot of things go our way,” Mason said. “We have to play as physical as we can and control the football. If we come out and play clean, and the ball bounces our way a few times, who knows what could happen.”

The key for Pleasant Home will be to tackle better and limit mistakes.

“We have to block and tackle better,” Mason said. “That goes against any team. We also have to limit our mistakes and capitalize on their mistakes. We dang sure ain’t going to beat them if we don’t go out there and get after them.”

Mason said the while the Eagles are on offense that they have to find a way to establish the line of scrimmage.

“We have to get our run game going and establish the line of scrimmage, and then try to open up the passing game,” Mason said. “One thing we have noticed from watching them on film is that they pursue very hard, and we will try to take advantage of that with some misdirection.”

Mason said that it has been a weird week of practice, but that he has seen some excitement from the kids.

“It’s been a weird week with all of the rain and we haven’t really been able to practice like we want to,” Mason said. “But they (Georgiana) are having to deal with it too. We’ve been inside this week watching film, doing walkthroughs and working out. We will just keep on working at getting better each day.”

As for the Panthers’ offense, Mason said that they are a spread team and will look to get their playmakers in space.

“They run a spread offense and they will throw the ball around to three or four different guys,” Mason said. “They will also run a zone read and a speed option. We will have to concentrate on keeping them inside, and limiting their big plays. They are going to be tough and they are playing for a lot on Friday night. They are trying to win the region, but we aren’t going to lie down and just hand it to them. We haven’t laid down for any one before and we aren’t going to start now. I’m sure we will have a lot of other teams in the region who will be pulling for us to upend them Friday night.”

Kickoff between the Eagles and the Panthers will be at 7 p.m., Friday night in Georgiana.