MERRY HILL – Neither enters Friday with a good record.

Halifax Academy enters Friday night 1-4 while the host Lawrence Academy Warriors are the same.

But, if anyone thinks the Vikings and Warriors are bad football teams, they would be mistaken.

&uot;They are playing really, really well,&uot; LA skipper Alan Spencer said. &uot;I would say they are one of the best teams in the state.&uot;

Both teams are coming off a loss Friday night when Lawrence fell 47-12 to North Raleigh and Halifax dropped a 36-31 decision to Trinity Christian.

Spencer said the Warriors were able to control the football last week, rolling up almost 300 yards of total offense, but didn’t do the job on the scoreboard.

The mistakes the Warriors made – mostly turnovers – are something that must be corrected if they are to have a chance when the Vikings visit Friday night.

&uot;We have to play mistake-free football, which is something we haven’t done,&uot; Spencer said. &uot;We’re turning the ball over and we can’t do that.&uot;

One positive for Lawrence is that some of the many injuries they have suffered appear to be healing.

This week, the Warriors will get Frank Baker back in the lineup. He played some last week, but will be back on track this week. Spencer also said he felt running back Jobie Thomas would be getting close to 100 percent by this week.

&uot;Jobie played last week and I would say he will be 90-95 percent by Friday,&uot; the coach said. &uot;We need him to be back at full strength.&uot;

Jay Spencer and Zack White both should be back for the Warriors while quarterback Dusty Todd and halfback Andrew Krawczyk will both play despite injuries.

One person still missing from the Lawrence lineup will be Ben Blowe, who will sit out at least one more week with a broken hand.

While starters are returning to the field for Lawrence, Spencer said he was extremely pleased with the work of several of those who have stepped up in their absence. He pointed out Jordan Rose and Rob Davis as having worked hard to learn the system.

As the unit meshes, the Warriors have to start working more cohesively.

&uot;We’re not getting it done yet,&uot; Spencer said. &uot;We’re getting better every day, but we are so far behind from being banged up and hurt.&uot;

The Warriors are preparing for a team that is in many ways there opposite.

&uot;They’re going to run motion and spread us out wide,&uot; Spencer said. &uot;They will probably try to throw the ball on us some.

&uot;They’ll be hard to beat,&uot; he added. &uot;They are a solid football team.&uot;

As for the Warriors, the game plan is the same as always, run the ball.

&uot;There’s nothing difficult about what we’re going to do,&uot; Spencer said. &uot;We’re going to line up and run it at them. We’re going to try to hit them hard and take them out of their game plan.&uot;

The Warriors play host to Halifax at 7:30 p.m. Friday night in Merry Hill.