Charles Henderson High School's game plan for tonight's showdown with longtime rival Stanhope Elmore High School is simple.

Get ahead early and stay ahead.

In three of the Trojans' four losses this season their opponent has struck first, forcing Charles Henderson to try and play its way out of a hole.

That's exactly what Charles Henderson High School head coach Hugh Fountain wants to avoid tonight when the Trojans (5-4, 4-3 Class 5A, Region 2) square off with the Class 6A Mustangs.

&#8220In any game you try to get off to a quick start, but looking at our four losses I think it's pretty obvious that it's important for us not to fall behind too early,” Fountain said. &#8220If you look at our losses, in every case except the Dothan (High School) game we dug ourselves a pretty big hole, and then we couldn't get out of there. That's what we want to avoid against Stanhope-Elmore.”

According to Fountain, the keys to getting off to a quick start are simple - avoid turnovers and finish drives.

&#8220Against Greenville (High School), and really in all of our losses, we shot ourselves in the foot with turnovers,” Fountain said. &#8220Taking care of the ball is something we emphasize at every practice, but it's got to be something that we do during the game.

&#8220Also, we have to put the ball in the endzone. Against Greenville we moved the ball pretty well, but we had trouble finishing the drives and that doesn't do you much good. You get points for getting in the endzone, not picking up yards. We have to finish drives.”

In their 24-14 loss to the eighth-ranked Tigers, the Trojans tallied 254 yards of total offense, including 157 yards on the ground.

Senior quarterback Jevoris Carter led the charge with 147 yards on the ground and 97 yards passing. Carter also scored both Trojan touchdowns, the first on a 1-yard dive and the second on a 50-yard scamper down the sideline.

Carter's performance against Greenville marked the first time this season the senior has rushed for 100 yards. On the season, Cater has rushed for 490 of the Trojans 1,592 yards on the ground.

Fountain is hoping his senior signal caller can help the Trojans find the endzone tonight against a gritty Mustang defense.

&#8220Jevoris came up big against Greenville,” Fountain said. &#8220It's probably the best game he's played all season. I think he's starting to settle into the quarterback position, and we need him to do that. He's one of our leaders and we need him to have another big game (tonight).

&#8220Stanhope-Elmore has a lot of good athletes on the defensive side of the ball, so we're going to need Jevoris and the rest of the guys to make plays to help give us a chance to win another ballgame.”

Carter and the Trojans will look to cap their regular season with a win tonight in Millbrook.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.