By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

After coming up short in their season opener, the Lafayette Christian School Cougars will try to bring home victory number one on Friday.

Lafayette Christian, which lost to Central Fellowship 18-7 last week, will be in Flowery Branch on Friday to play Lanier Christian Academy.

In last week’s game, Lafayette Christian out-scored Central Fellowship 7-0 in the second half and controlled the game, but it was unable to overcome the 18-0 first-half deficit.

Cason Firth had a touchdown run for Lafayette Christian.

The Cougars didn’t practice in pads last week, and head coach Bill Bryant felt it took the players a little while to adjust to the heat.

The Cougars are also dealing with some injuries, so it helps that many of the players have experience playing multiple positions.

“We told the guys you’ve got to cross train,” Bryant said. “If somebody goes down, we’ve got to put somebody in there.

Also on Friday, the LaGrange Grangers will open their season with a showdown against Heard County, which won the Class AA state title a year ago.

After starting 1-2, Heard County won its next 13 games to win the program’s first state title.

“That’s just signs of a great coaching staff,” LaGrange head coach Chuck Gibbs said. “They built on their successes, and they shored up their weaknesses and became even stronger, and they flat-out dominated opponents.”

After the Heard County game, LaGrange takes a week off and plays Callaway on Sept. 6.

Unity Preparatory Academy of West Georgia will play its home debut today against Griffin Christian, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. Unity Prep (0-1) plays its home games in Hogansville.