There are times during a football season where a bye week is a blessing, providing a chance for a battered and struggling team to regroup and heal injuries.

This was not one of them.

Porters Chapel Academy had an unexpected — and unwelcome — bye last week when Riverdale forfeited their game because of a lack of healthy players. For PCA, it was a missed opportunity to field test some adjustments made after a season-opening loss to St. Andrew’s and to build confidence. It’ll now shift those goals to this Friday, when Central Hinds comes to town for the rescheduled home opener.

“I think it hurt us,” PCA coach Wayne Lynch said of the bye. “We needed to play. We had nine games last year and we scheduled 10 this year for a reason. Not playing left us stagnant. We worked on some things and wanted to go live with them and see how they worked, and we didn’t get to do that.”

After losing 35-0 to St. Andrew’s, Lynch said most of the adjustments involved simplifying the offense. He pared it down to a handful of plays the Eagles can run effectively rather than using multiple formations and looks.

Lynch said the changes seemed to be effective in practice.

“We simplified some things, and we’re going to try to keep it simple and not do as much. We steered away from a couple of formations that weren’t working and tried to really focus in on what was working,” Lynch said, adding that the preparation for Riverdale was beneficial even if the Eagles didn’t play the game. “We practiced just like we were going to play a game Friday night, all the way through. We got our work in, we just didn’t get to play a game. It’s not like we took a week off.”

Lynch wasn’t the only one disappointed that the Eagles had last Friday off. Central Hinds coach Lance Teasley said it cost he and his coaching staff a good scouting opportunity. Central Hinds had game films of PCA’s jamboree and opener, and not seeing what adjustments they’ve made from week to week makes it difficult to formulate a game plan.

“You see some of their tendencies develop after a couple of games. On our end, you can’t rely on those as much as if you have two or three tapes on them,” Teasley said. “We’re a different team in Week 1 than we are in Week 3. You’re able to work on some things. Those guys are probably the opposite. They’re trying to figure out what they can do well.”

Through two games, Central Hinds is getting a pretty good idea of what it itself can do well. The Cougars are 2-0 thanks largely to a strong defense and an effective running game.

In the opener, CHA got 24 points from its defense and special teams. Last week against Brookhaven Academy running back Donnie Haley and quarterback Tanner Leggett combined for 213 yards and two touchdowns rushing.

Through two games, Haley and Leggett have 395 rushing yards between them.

“They’ve got some good skill guys,” Lynch said.

Although this isn’t a district game, Teasley said the Cougars also are keeping in mind that a win is important to their playoff hopes.

The MAIS Class AAA playoff bracket will consist of five district champions and 11 wild card teams. The wild cards will be determined by a power point system that rewards victories.

With so few automatic berths, Teasley said every win is important — even the early-season games against teams that aren’t even in the same classification.

“Especially as competitive as what AAA is. The top 16 teams get in, and there’s a clear top four or five right now. The rest are trying to get in on power points,” Teasley said. “Losing points at the beginning of the year is not an option.”

Central Hinds at Porters Chapel

Friday, 7 p.m.

Radio: 104.5 FM

Online: For live scoring updates on Friday night, visit Facebook.com/thevicksburgpost or Twitter.com/vicksburgpost