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By Dylan Hurst

The Ariton Purple Cats football team, (2-2) – (1-1), will play their second-straight road game and look to win their second region game against the G.W. Long Rebels on Friday night.

These two teams met on the field last year, with Ariton taking a 29-21 win.

The Purple Cats fell 54-41 against the Geneva County Bulldogs last week despite putting up 469 yards of offense, with 264 through the air and 205 on the ground.

This week, a big focus will be put on taking advantage of early drives as well as sustaining drives throughout the game.

“We went 3-and-out on our first two possessions, so we need to maintain our drives,” said Ariton head coach Steven Kilcrease. “We have scored on our first possession in every other game, so we need to start out strong every game.”

During practice this week, the Purple Cats have been taking time to regroup and make corrections before their game on Friday.

“We’re trying to correct our mistakes,” said Kilcrease. “We’ve spent a lot of time on us, as well as trying to get back to the basics.”

With their second road game looming, the Purple Cats will need to further adjust to playing away from home.

“We normally play very well on the road,” said Kilcrease. “We’ve got a lot of young players that weren’t used to the new environment last week, so that’s something we need to work on.”

Kickoff for Friday’s game is set for 7 p.m.