The Pleasant Home Eagles have a talented team this year and are eager to kick off the season against Fruitdale on Friday night in Pleasant Home.

“Our expectations are for us to play well enough to win the game,” Pleasant Home head coach Richard Mercer said. “If we do the things that we are supposed to do, we have a chance to win. Fruitdale is coming off a tough loss last week in Tuscaloosa, but we aren’t going to let that change the way we prepare for them.”

Last week, Fruitdale opened up the season with a 51-0 loss to Holy Spirit.

“I’ve already told them to not pay attention to what happened to Fruitdale last week,” Mercer said. “You try to keep that stuff away from them, but they are going to see it. I’ve told them that if I hear anyone bad mouthing them, they will get 25 up-downs. You always have to respect your opponent.”

The Eagles are coming off a preseason scrimmage against Florala, but are now ready to start the season for real.

“We came out on Friday night and realized that we weren’t in the type of shape that we needed to be in at this point in the year,” Mercer said. “This week we’ve just come in a tried to iron out the kinks. This week has been our best so far in fall camp. The guys realized they needed to work on some things, and they have come out this week ready to work.”

Mercer said that his players are eager to get back on the field.

“We have guys that are chomping at the bit to get there Friday night,” Mercer said. “They are hungry and they expect to win. If we go out there on the same page and execute, we will be 1-0 after Friday night.”

Mercer said the he expects the teams to be evenly matched.

“Last year, we were lucky to come away with a win on last series of the game,” Mercer said. “Fruitdale lost some guys from that team, but we lost guys as well. This is going to be an evenly matched game. Hopefully, we can come away with a win and then turn around and give McKenzie a good game next week.”

The players have been focused this week on the task at hand, Mercer said.

“This week, every one has been focused and ready to get the season started,” Mercer said. “This really has been our best two days of practice so far this fall. The guys are intent on getting every one on the same page. If we do that, then I expect us to come away with a win on Friday night.”

Pleasant Home leads the series 1-0.

In 2016, the Eagles came away with a 21-16 victory.

Fruitdale finished 2016 with a 3-7 record.

The Eagles finished 2016 with a 6-4 record.

The 2016 Pleasant Home team set a school record for scoring with 303 points in 2016.

Pleasant Home and Fruitdale begin Friday at 7 p.m, in Pleasant Home.