The Greenville Tigers enjoy a week off on the heels of a thrilling victory over the defending state champions, the Beauregard Hornets.

But for Greenville head football coach Josh McLendon, there’s no such thing as a week off.  The Tigers are instead viewing this week an extra period of preparation for Greenville’s first region game against the Charles Henderson Trojans.

Though the Tigers have celebrated the victory over Beauregard in the days that followed, it’s already back to business for McLendon and his players.

“It was a good team win, and we worked hard and had a good week of practice,” he said.

“But this puts us at 1-0; that’s the main thing we need to understand.  We’ve won one ballgame, and we’ve got a long way to go.”

They’re going to be a good, well-coached football team; Coach McCoy does a really good job,” McLendon said.

“They’re good in all three phases of the game, they’re big up front on both sides of the ball and they’re very athletic.  They’ve got a running back who is going to be really similar to the running back that we just faced—he’s committed to Southern Miss.  So he’s a Division I-type of running back, which means we’re going to have to work hard at practice and have good preparation.  If we do that, then I feel good about where we’re at.

Though the Charles Henderson are 0-1, their loss came at the hands of a talented UMS-Wright Bulldogs team that they trailed as much as 19 points, though eventually cut the deficit to just five. 

McLendon said that the loss spoke just as loudly as a win would’ve.

“It says that they’ve got a lot of heart and they’ll play for four quarters, and that means you have to play a complete game,” McLendon said.

“That’s our goal for any opponent, so they’re going to be good.  They always provide a great matchup for us, and we want to have good weeks of preparation to make sure we’re ready to go.”

Unlike last week, the Tigers will enjoy a home crowd for its first region opponent.  McLendon said that home field advantage grows all the more important in rivalry situations.

“I think it’s nice to be back at home, for sure,” he said. “We love our stadium, we love playing at home and we hope it’s a good home field advantage with a good atmosphere with a good crowd.”

The Tigers will host the visiting Trojans next Friday, Sept. 15.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.