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Without even playing last week, the Charles Henderson Trojans (3-3, 3-1) secured a playoff spot but that doesn’t mean things get any easier as they hit the road this week for another Class 5A, Region 2 matchup against the Headland Rams (3-4, 0-4) on Oct. 18.

With the way the rest of the region’s games shook out last week – while CHHS was on a bye – Charles Henderson secured its spot in the Class 5A State Playoffs for a third consecutive season. Charles Henderson currently sits in second place in the region only behind Montgomery Catholic. CHHS is tied with Andalusia but holds the tiebreaker over the Bulldogs. Eufaula currently has the fourth seed. These final two weeks of region play will decide the seeding for the playoffs.

“We have to finish this week and next week,” CHHS Coach Quinn Hambrite emphasized. “We have to take things one week a time and focus on Headland this week before we can turn our attention to Eufaula.”

Charles Henderson is coming off a pivotal bye week that allowed the banged up Trojans to heal up.

“It went well, we ended practice pretty good on Thursday and got in the weight room a little on Friday and did a little rehab, too, and then got back to it on Sunday,” Hambrite said. “We had an early morning practice (on Monday) and are getting ready to play Headland.”

The Rams are coming off a 63-0 loss to Montgomery Catholic last week. All four of Headland’s losses this season have come in region play, falling 24-6 to Andalusia, 34-6 to Eufaula and 52-22 to Greenville, as well. Headland also holds wins over Dale County, Abbeville and Ashford.

“They’re going to play hard and physical,” Hambrite said of Headland. “They’re a team you can’t overlook because of their physicality and their hard-nosed style of football. They’ll play four quarters of downhill, hard-nosed football and we have to be prepared physically and mentally for it.”

After dropping back-to-back losses to Montgomery Catholic and Benjamin Russell, the Trojans picked up a big win over Andalusia on Oct. 4 and are looking to close out the season with a string of victories heading into the playoffs.

“We have to continue to get better,” Hambrite said. “We have to be disciplined in all three phases of the game and keep getting some of these young guys reps, as they’ve been getting all year, and hopefully we can come out with a win. We have to be disciplined in all three phases of the game to give ourselves a chance, especially if we can play well up front.”

Charles Henderson is 7-1 all-time against Headland, winning last year’s matchup 35-14.

The Trojans will face Headland on the road this Friday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m.