The Patriots of Pike liberal Arts will look to get back on track this week when they take on the Glenwood Gators.

PLAS (2-1, 1-1) comes into the game after a tough loss last week to Fort Dale, and is hoping to get back to its winning ways.

“Last year, when we lost to Lee-Scott, we bounced back pretty hard, and I’m just hoping we do the same thing this year,” said senior quarterback Trey Walters.

Head coach Steven Kilcrease said his team should be able to avoid an emotional letdown this week against the Gators (0-3, 0-2).

“Initially, I was worried about a letdown, but now, I don’t think there will be one,” Kilcrease said. “We’ve had a pretty good week of practice. Monday, we really came out and got better. I think they’ve responded well.”

One thing that will be in the Patriots’ favor is the Glenwood defensive scheme. The Gators run a 3-3-5 defensively, much like Fort Dale did in last week’s game.

“I feel pretty going good into it,” Walters said. “We know a lot of their formations already, so I feel like we’ll be fine. It helps me tremendously, but not only me. We know where everybody’s going to be on the field pretty much, so last week helps us a lot.”

While the Gator defensive alignment may be familiar to PLAS, Glenwood’ s offensive scheme is one that is rarely seen.

“They run a lot of double wing stuff,” Kilcrease said. “We haven’t seen hardly any of that double wing. They’re one of the few teams that still runs it.”

However, the Gators will not run exclusively out of one offensive set.

“They’ve run the single wing some in the past, so that’s another thing we have to be prepared for,” Kilcrease said.

“They’ll also spread it some, so they’re pretty multiple on offense.”

The Gator offense will not be the only unfamiliar element to PLAS.

“They’ve kind of been like us the last couple weeks in that they’ve had a lot of guys out with the flu and had some injuries,” Kilcrease said.

“They’re going to have some guys back this week that we haven’t seen on film. So, we don’t know a lot about those guys, and that concerns us a little bit.”

No matter the concerns that Glenwood presents for the Patriots, the team recognizes the importance of this week’s region game

“Winning this one would go a long way toward getting us into the playoffs,” Kilcrease said.

“That has sort of helped the guys. They know this is a region game just like Fort Dale was. It may not be quite the rivalry, but it’s still a big game.”

PLAS will take on Glenwood at home Friday at 7 p.m.