Andalusia has a bye week this week, and head coach Trent Taylor said the timing is perfect.

“We’ve got some guys that are banged up at this point in the year,” Taylor said. “It’s really good to have an open week, and couldn’t have fallen at a better time.”

The Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 1 in Class 4A for the fourth straight week, defeated W.S. Neal 52-28 for homecoming last week. They’ve also clenched the Class 4A, Region 1 title, and will host the first round of play-offs, and only have Straughn left as a regular-season opponent.

“More than anything, on a week like this, coaches always say, ‘We’re working on ourselves,’ ” Taylor said. “We’re not looking at any opponent; not at Week 10, not first round. We’re working on us.”

Taylor said one of the areas which needs improvement is the Bulldog special teams.

“We’ll spend a lot of time on that this week,” he said.

“We’ve got some guys that are banged up. We’ll do the things we need to do with them to avoid some contact, but still let them stay sharp.”

The team took Monday off, and won’t have to practice Friday.

“We’ve been lifting all through the season, so this will be max week,” he said. “The down side is there’s not a game to get ready for, and our guys want to play.

“We’ll stand back and take a look at some things, get some rest, and then we’ll get at it. It also gives us an opportunity to work a lot of young kids.”

Taylor said he planned to let the older and younger guys scrimmage yesterday, and probably will again on Thursday.

“The kids call the scrum bowl, and they’re excited about it,” he said.

While the coaches aren’t organizing players to attend any certain game this week, Taylor said it’s likely the coaches will look down the road toward possible opponents and scout on Friday night.

The Bulldogs return to action next week when they play at Straughn.