Wilcox-Central’s coach Mark Dukes knows his team may be the underdog going into the Jaguars game against Wenonah Friday morning, but he also knows that won’t stop his team.

“Looking at their record (28-7) you can see they are a really good team,” Dukes said. “I think if we can take care of the ball and execute on offense and defense then we will be okay. We certainly aren’t going to be backing down from anyone, I know that.”

The trip to Birmingham is the first for Wilcox-Central since 2004, before any of the current Jaguars were on the team.

“They are all very excited about it,” Dukes said. “They are very optimistic. They know we are probably the underdogs, but that isn’t concerning them at the moment. They are just ready to get up there and play.”

In order to slow the fast-paced tempo the Dragons like to play, the Jaguars are going to have to be careful with their ball handling.

“They (Wenonah) really want to get up and down the floor with their press,” said Dukes. “You can tell by the scores of their games that they have done a great job in being able to execute that kind of game plan where they get out in transition to get easy baskets.”

One other hurdle the Jags have to get over is the wide-open space of the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, but Dukes feels like the regional final in the Mitchell Center on the campus of the University of South Alabama prepared them.

“I know that it (BJCC) is a little bigger, but not that much,” Dukes said. “Playing in the Mitchell Center has probably helped us some. We aren’t really able to practice with the open arena around here.

“I guess to adjust you just have to prepare individually, but playing down there certainly helps us.”

The game begins at 10:30 a.m. on Friday.