The Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets are currently 2-2 and coming off a bye week as they open region play Friday night at West Laurens.

Head coach Jason Anthony believes the bye week came at a good time, enabling the team to heal up and work on some of the issues they have had early in the season.

“It was a very productive bye week,” Anthony said. “We had a chance to focus on ourselves and iron some things out on offense, defense and special teams. We also have a couple guys coming back from injuries that are now much better.

“On offense we worked on our offensive line footwork which has been an issue. On defense we worked on tackling better in space and linebackers and defensive line using their hands more.”

Friday the Jackets hit the road for West Laurens in both teams’ region opener. The Raiders come in with a record of 1-3, with their lone win coming against Dodge County and a pair of close losses against Cook County and Monroe Area.

“They have worked from many different formations on offense,” Anthoy said. “It seems like whatever is working for them, they try and stick with that.

"Defensively they are really scrappy. They get to the ball and while they are a little under sized, they are very athletic.”

Anthony believes one of the keys to a win Friday is going to be explosive plays, which they haven’t had a lot of this year.

“Our playmakers are going to have to make big plays,” Anthomy said. “Our running backs along with guys like Aaden Peterson and Eli Reed are going to have to make big plays like we know they are capable of doing.

“Up front our offensive line has to control the line of scrimmage and on defense we are going to have to tackle their running backs. They use a lot of guys back there and all of them are good and athletic so we have to be able to wrap them up.”

Southeast Bulloch and West Laurens are set for a 7:30 start Friday in Dexter.