Friday could be the toughest test the Maroon Tide football team has faced this season as they take on a high-scoring Hattiesburg team.

The district foe has an abundance of talented athletes and with a balanced offense, squaring up against the Hattiesburg Tigers is frightening for even the best teams in Mississippi. Even though this game is a playoff caliber contest, Picayune’s Head Football Coach Dodd Lee isn’t nervous about the game.

“The only anxiety we have is to have a great week of preparation,” Lee said. “This is the biggest game of the week for us and then the game after that will be the biggest for that week. We got our minds set on Hattiesburg and we are going to treat it just like any other game.”

Throwing a substantial 20 touchdowns this season, Tigers’ quarterback Julian Conner leads his team against one of the best defenses in the state, allowing an average of only 17.8 points per game this season. So far, he has been responsible for 25 Tiger touchdowns—five of them on the ground—and throws an average 250 yards per game, making this matchup an interesting clash of Mississippi football powerhouses.

Conner’s favorite target, Jordan Murphy, has caught 10 of Conner’s 20 touchdown passes this year. When Murphy is not catching touchdowns, he averages 21.6 yards per catch.

To complement Hattiesburg’s passing game, running back Fabian Franklin has tacked nine rushing touchdowns of his own and has a total of 582 yards on the ground this season.

Averaging 7.3 yards per carry, Franklin provides a change of pace for the Tigers’ offense that—along with the passing game—could be a deadly one-two punch for the remainder of the season.

However, Picayune continues to climb the state rankings, and for good reason. The Maroon Tide offense averages 43 points per game and also possesses an early season candidate, Josh Littles, for Player of the Year, according to the Sun Herald.

Littles has proven to be a touchdown machine this season as he has reached the end zone 14 times this season. The next highest scorer for Picayune is Blake Merrifield with five touchdowns.

With an average of 194.2 yards per game and a total of 1,165 rushing yards, the Maroon Tide will work hard to continue what has been giving them success this year. However, Lee said they don’t focus on one aspect of their game.

“We coach everybody every day to get better, and that is what we intend to do this week,” Lee said.

According to an Associated Press poll, Picayune (6-0) is the second ranked team in the state followed by Hattiesburg (5-2) who is right behind them at No. 5.

In Hattiesburg’s two losses this season—against Petal and Oak Grove—they were caught in high-scoring affairs.

As they battle against Picayune at Lee/Triplett Stadium, the Tigers and Maroon Tide better buckle down for another high-scoring contest between two fiery offenses.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. on Friday.