Bradwell Institute has its first Region 3-AAAAA contest at 7:30 p.m. Friday when it hosts Richmond Hill at Olvey Field.

Richmond Hill went 10-2 and made the second round of the playoffs last season, its first in class AAAAA. The Wildcats (1-0) beat Johnson High, 20-0, last week in this season’s opener.

Meanwhile, the Tigers (0-2) are coming off a heartbreaking 28-21 loss to Calvary Day last Friday in Savannah.

Offensively, both teams are much stronger pounding the ball downfield than passing it.

The Wildcats posted 243 rushing yards, led by senior Ronnie Harris with 200 yards and two touchdowns. Wildcats starting quarterback Xavier Bryant-Long was 3-for-9 passing for 68 passing yards and one touchdown.

The Tigers do not yet have any passing yards this season, but have 415 rushing yards in their first two games. Bradwell has a slew of talented, led by juniors Trevon McCoy and Luther Echols, who have combined for 304 yards.

Bradwell head coach Greg Hill said being a region game has bigger implications.

“This is one of the ones (games) you have to have to set yourself up for things down the line,” he said, adding that a region win early on could keep his players pumped up and help them reach their goal of the playoffs.

“We are taking it one game at a time, and right now this is the most important game because it is the only one we will play on Friday Sept. 12 … it doesn’t matter who we play … we want it (the win),” Hill added.

The coach said turnovers, false starts and costly errors need to be minimized. Also, Friday’s loss, which was clinched late in the fourth quarter, never should have occurred.

“We need to have a consistent effort and not make the mistakes that we made,” he said. “Once again, I felt last Friday’s game was a game we should have won … if we would just take care and do what we are supposed to do and not make those mistakes, we would get the W … but we will use it as a learning lesson and try and regroup and correct those errors in practice.”