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The Goshen Eagles are looking to rebound this week as they hit the road for an exciting showdown with the Elba Tigers.

Goshen is coming off a frustrating 53-21 loss to Highland Home that saw the Eagles lead in the first half.

“I told our guys that it was a tale of two halves,” GHS Coach Don Moore said. “In the first half, we competed at a championship level and in the second half, we kind of let down a little bit.”

This week won’t be any easier, however, as the Eagles travel down to Coffee County to face off against Elba.

“They’re a good football team,” Moore said of Elba. “They have a couple of Division I athletes on their team and some big offensive linemen that are gritty. They’re a good football team and I expect another physical game. The question for us is can we compete and be physical for four quarters? We did it for two quarters last week and now we have to do it for four.”

Elba has had an interesting 2024 season thus far, including a wild 80-78 loss against McKenzie in four overtimes earlier this year. Elba boasts one of the top scoring offenses in the state, averaging 55 points per game, but also gives up a whopping 46.4 points per game defensively.

Elba holds wins over Class 2A’s Luverne, Kinston and a win over 1A powerhouse Brantley this season along with losses to private school Glenwood and McKenzie.

That high-scoring offense goes through Auburn commit Alvin Henderson. Henderson is a five-star rated college recruit and is considered one of the top running backs in the entire country. Against McKenzie, Henderson shattered a number of state records. He set the record for points in a game (60) and touchdowns in a game (9), while also rushing for 418 yards. Henderson already owned a number of game, single season and career state records.

“He’s a big power runner, he runs the ball a lot, touches it a lot and is really fast and quick,” Moore said of Henderson. “We tell our guys that you have to make sure you’re sure handedly making good tackles against him. If not, he’ll run for a lot of yards and a lot of touchdowns. That’s our biggest thing this week, making sure we limit the big plays. That’s the biggest challenge. You can’t really stop a guy like that, you just have to hope to contain him the best you can.”

Tackling is something that Moore said hampered the Eagles against Highland Home.

“We have to do a good job of being where we’re supposed to be and tackling,” he emphasized. “That’s been a big point of emphasis for us this week. We missed a lot of tackles against Highland Home last week.”

Goshen and Elba run similar offenses, as well. The Tigers run a version of the “single wing,” which head coach Marc Sieving learned in his time at Enterprise under former head coach Rick Darlington.

“We’re both built heavily on the run, both of us like to establish the run for sure,” Moore said. “We also like do play-action pass off the run. I think defensively, we do things differently for personnel reasons but offensively we’re very similar.”

While the offenses are similar, Goshen runs more of a “spread wing,” which combines elements of the “single wing,” “wing T” and “spread” offenses.

“We run a version of their offense but not the same thing,” Moore said. “They have different formations and plays we typically don’t run, because it’s a piece of our offense and not the entire thing.”

Goshen also has it’s own weapons on offense including quarterback Jayden McNabb, running back Szemerick Andrews and receiver Tyler McLendon. So far this season, McNabb has rushed for 838 yards and nine touchdowns along with 329 yards and four touchdowns through the air.

While Goshen and Elba are no strangers to one another, this is the first regular season matchup between the two schools since 2017. Goshen has an all-time series record of 0-8 against the Tigers, losing the last matchup 20-14. The two sides met in a spring exhibition game prior to the 2023 season, as well.

Goshen plays Elba at 7 p.m. on Sept. 27 at Mack Wood Field in Elba.