SELMA — Tonight for three Dallas County schools the quest for a state championship begins on the road.

Selma High School will have the longest trek as they travel to Birmingham to take on Pleasant Grove.

Saints head coach Leroy Miles said earlier this week he is confident his team can be competitive if they head into the game with the right attitude.

“We’ve got to be prepared mentally,” Miles said. “Our coaching staff is going to have to pay attention to are we carrying out our fakes, are our shoulders square and are we running our routes right.”

The Saints are coming off their worst loss of the season and entering unfamiliar territory.

Miles said his team is on unfamiliar ground, which could cause some pre-game jitters.

“You’re always nervous, but as soon as you kick off, you forget about all that and just play football,” Miles said. “I don’t think they’re scared. They’re buying into what we’re telling them to do.”

The Morgan Academy Senators are riding high coming off a big win over Southern Academy last week and now hit the road for a first round AISA matchup with Fort Dale Academy.

Senators head coach Brian King said his team actually got a head start on the Eagles during preparations for Southern last week.

“We’ve slid some Fort Dale stuff into our weekly preparation, but we didn’t tell them and they’ve done pretty good against it,” he said.

Morgan offensive coordinator Bob Taylor said earlier this week he plans to stick with what has made the Senators successful throughout 2010.

“We’re not changing what we do, we’re tweaking it to use our speed and play to our strength more,” offensive coordinator he said. “They have a very aggressive defense with a lot of blitzes that will present problems for us. We’re trying to work on our matchups. We’ve just got to do what we do.”

Keith High School will have revenge on its mind when the team travels to Montgomery to take on St. Jude.

Bears head coach Harry Crum said his team is very familiar with St. Jude.

“They were in our region so we played them the last couple of years and last year they beat us 35-14,” he said. “It’s going to be good old-fashioned smash mouth football, so we’re looking forward to that.”

Crum said he knows St. Jude is a good team, but also knows the Bears have the ability to walk out with a win.

“Any time you’re 9-1, you know you can play football,” Crum said. “But anything can happen. Football is a simple game, it’s blocking and tackling.”