The Charles Henderson Trojans went from a shot to a region championship to a fourth-place finish after their loss to Valley in the region championship two weeks ago. After dropping their second-straight game last week to Baldwin County, the Trojans hope to right the ship Friday night.

The Trojans will open up the state playoffs on the road against Faith Academy.

The Trojans fell to Baldwin County 20-14 last week to give them a 4-5 record on the season. Since the loss, head coach Brad McCoy and the Trojans had a productive week of practice leading into the postseason.

“I think we have bounced back OK,” McCoy said. “We had a pretty good week of practiced. We were focused and excited for the playoffs. We got a couple key defensive starters back who didn’t play in Zeke Caldwell and J.B. Sanders.”

The Trojans had their sights on winning the region championship for the first time since 2013. Instead, with their loss to Valley, the Trojans finished in a three-way-tie for the second that eventually pushed them to fourth place via the tiebreaker.

“It’s frustrating and disappointing for the kids, but that’s football,” McCoy said. “The coaches and players have to understand that we have to pick up our mistakes, fix them and get back to work. We did that going into the Baldwin County game. We had an opportunity to win we just turned the ball over.

“We had an opportunity to win the region, but we didn’t get it done. These are the cards we are dealt and we have to play an outstanding Faith Academy team.”

The region had five teams finish either at .500 or above this season. The four-team shuffle following the region finale only proves the parity within Region 2.

“There was a lot of consistency within this region,” McCoy said. “There has been since they reclassified two years ago. Rehobeth probably put together their best year in their history. It threw a wrench in it, but my hats off to them. Greenville is always solid and of course Valley has been really good.

“We have been neck and neck with all them. We have made our improvements and now It’s playoff time. We need a good football game Friday night.”

The Rams come into the postseason record with an undefeated record of 10-0. All 10 wins have been by double figures. Their closest game of the season came in their opening win over Bayside 34-21.

“They have good receivers, good running backs and they have a talented quarterback,” McCoy said. “It’s certainly not any challenges we have not faced all season. The challenges aren’t going to be new, they’re going to be normal. Our guys understand big, physical and fast. They’re used to it. We have to correct the mistakes. We have made untimely mistakes that have cost us the ball, points and it’s cost us players. If we don’t fix that it’s going to be tough to win ball games, but if we do we have every opportunity and chance to win.”