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The Pike Liberal Arts Patriots (6-2, 3-2) are coming off a frustrating loss last week and things won’t get any easier as the Highland Home Flying Squadron (8-0, 4-0) come in to town for a Class 2A, Region 3 game this Friday.

Pike is coming off a 64-27 loss to Goshen last week on the road.

“We did not play well at all,” PLAS Coach William Moguel flatly said. “The wheels sort of fell off early. They went down and scored and then we fumbled the kickoff and they scored again. We just weren’t physical enough and didn’t show up to play Friday night. I think we came out and played a little bit better in the second half but you just can’t do what we did Friday night and beat good teams.”

Highland Home has been consistently the most dominant team in Class 2A this season, thrashing most of its opponents. In the first three four weeks of the season, Highland Home outscored its opponents 179-9 in wins over Class 4A Straughn, Class 5A Charles Henderson, Barbour County and Zion Chapel. That stretch included three straight shutout wins.

After a 53-21 win over Goshen, Highland has been just as dominant as the early season stretch. After beating Class 1A powerhouse Brantley 56-6, Highland defeated Isabella 61-0 and topped Luverne 35-8 last week. In all, the Squadron has outscored its opponents by a combined 384-44 in 2024.

“Everyone has seen Highland and knows what to expect from those guys,” Moguel said. “They have DI prospects all over the place. We have to be better, especially on defense, than we were last Friday. We have to come ready to compete. I don’t think we faced adversity very well and there will be adversity on Friday. We have to face it better than we did against Goshen. We just have to continue to work and get better this week and go out there and compete for four quarters.”

Highland Home is headlined by Louisville commit CJ May and Auburn commit Jakaleb Faulk, who is the brother of current Auburn player Keldric Faulk. Faulk has tallied 48 tackles, three tackles-for-loss, one sack and one interception this season. May has 45 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss, two sacks, an interception and four fumble recoveries.

On the offensive side, TJ Washington has thrown for 893 yards and 15 touchdowns with just one interception this season along with 297 yards and five scores on the ground. Running back Austin Crittenden has 755 yards and 15 touchdowns rushing, while Faulk has hauled in 13 catches for 261 yards and four touchdowns. Tyler Chaney also has 16 catches for 479 yards and six scores. Crittenden is also a leader on defense with 69 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss, one sack, one interception and three fumble recoveries.

Moguel emphasized that he has to be better this week in preparation for Highland Home.

“We have to come better prepared,” he continued. “It’s on me that we weren’t as prepared as we should have been last week. It’s on us coaches to do a better job preparing our guys and our kids have to come out and play with heart and play with more intensity.”

This is the first time that PLAS and Highland Home have played in a regular season game. Pike will host Highland Home at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18, at Delaney Kervin Stadium in Troy.