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Ardmore might have started off the season 2-0, but Tigers coach P.J. Wright knows there are still a lot of things to work on as the team gets ready to begin Class 5A, Region 8 play Friday night with a home game against Scottsboro.

Ardmore opened the season with a 27-9 win over West Morgan, then followed it up with a 22-8 victory over Elkmont last Friday. But as the Tigers prepare for their home opener, there is still much room for improvement.

“There are a lot of things we still need to clean up,” Wright said. “After the first week, we knew we had some things we needed to make disappear. We got those things to disappear, but found some other issues. It’s good to be 2-0, but there are definitely things we need to clean up.”

With nearly 80 percent of Ardmore’s roster being new to varsity football, Wright said mistakes that have affected the Tigers in their first two games are going to happen.

“That just comes from our inexperience as a football team and being young,” he said. “But the good news is they are all things we can correct. We’ve just got to get it done. If we can keep making improvement from week to week, we’re going to be OK. We’ve just got to find the errors and make them disappear. That is what we do as coaches.”

One thing Wright said Ardmore will need to improve is its kicking game. The Tigers missed both extra point attempts against Elkmont, and had to go for it on fourth down inside the Red Devils’ 10-yard line twice instead of attempting field goals.

“We’ve got to get the kicking game fixed,” Wright said. “We can’t have games where we miss extra points and field goals. We’ve also got to work on the execution on offense. Some things we know what to do, but we don’t know why we do it. So we’re not executing correctly.”

One thing Wright is pleased with is the defense, which has allowed fewer than 10 points in both of its first two games.

“Defensively we’ve played two really good games,” Wright said. “We are creating turnovers and tackling well. We’ve got to learn to train our eyes better on the second and third level of our defense to get better reads and keys. Sometimes we play too fast and are out of control. We’ve got to learn to play fast, but play under control. That’s what we’re working on this week defensively.”

Scottsboro opened its season last Friday with a 42-7 loss to Fort Payne. Wright said one thing he noticed about Scottsboro after watching them on film is they, like Ardmore, don’t play a lot of players.

“Last week we played 32 players in the Elkmont game, and it looks like they’ll play between 30 and 35 as well,” Wright said. “It’s going to come down to who is going to be in better condition toward the end of the game. There are a lot of players who are going to be playing both ways (offense and defense).”

Wright said Scottsboro has a big offensive line and a quarterback who is fast and tough to tackle.

“We had a hard time tackling him last year at running back, and they’ve moved him to quarterback this year,” Wright said. “I think they’ll direct snap it to him and he’ll tuck it and run. We’ve got to work hard to tackle him.”

Scottsboro defeated Ardmore 35-7 last season, and Wright said the Tigers will have to be better on offense to avoid a repeat of that defeat.

“Defensively they took it to us last year,” he said. “They played with a six-man front and man coverage in the secondary, and we couldn’t do anything offensively. This year we’re looking for answers on how to attack their defensive front and move the football. Their size will be an issue for us. They’re big and strong.”