Only three games into the season, Pike County finds itself in a must-win situation when the Bulldogs travel to Abbeville to face the Yellow Jackets at 7 p.m. on Friday.

The Bulldogs find themselves in a familiar but unwanted position at the bottom of Class 3A Region 2 after dropping region contests to Barbour County and Dale County.

“It’s very important that we don’t go down 0-3 in the region,” Holland said. “After Friday, we need to be at 1-2 in region play.”

Holland cited turnovers as the main reason that his team has gotten off to a slow start on the season. “We committed at least three turnovers in the last two games,” Holland said. “These were costly turnovers that killed our momentum.”

Turnovers were especially damaging in the Bulldogs’ loss to Barbour County. In that game, three Jerrell Lawson interceptions were returned for touchdowns. “We can’t give them a short field. We need to make them work for their scores,” Holland said.

Even in the last two losses, Holland has seen some things that he liked from his team. “I liked the way that we battled back in the first half against Dale County,” Holland said. “We played hard during the game.”

Pike County’s youth might be contributing to the mistakes that have plagued the Bulldog season. “We got young guys in certain places. When we lose momentum, we have to find a reason to fight,” Holland said. “We have to find a way to fight back.”

The Abbeville offense will look to exploit a Bulldog defense that had a rough game last week, giving up 56 points and over 300 all-purpose yards to Daleville and running back Jamarius Henderson. Abbeville runs a spread offense and will look to get the ball out to playmakers in space.

“The teams know each other pretty well,” Holland said. “It ought to be a real good game.”

Last year, Abbeville won a back-and-forth shootout 53-41 in Brundidge.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Abbeville.