By the midway point of the second quarter Friday night, both Porters Chapel Academy and St. Aloysius were heading toward another blowout loss and probably wishing the season had some sort of reset button.

Luckily, it does.

Both PCA (1-3) and St. Al (0-4) will play their district openers Friday night. It’s the beginning of the “second season,” the portion of the schedule where success in a handful of games can guarantee a playoff berth, and a fresh start for both struggling teams.

St. Al will host Hartfield Academy (2-2) this Friday night, while PCA travels to Natchez to take on Trinity Episcopal (1-3).

“The main thing is, we’re 0-0 in district and that starts Friday at home. Realistically, our season starts then,” St. Al coach BJ Smithhart said. “That’s what we need to understand. Everything is right in front of us. You have to win those key ballgames to get into the postseason.”

The closest of St. Al’s four losses so far was 18 points. After scoring 82 touchdowns in 2014, the Flashes have reached the end zone only eight times in their first four games of 2015. Six of those have come in the fourth quarter.

A lack of offensive punch is only one area of concern for the Flashes, however. Five injured starters sat out or barely played in last week’s 40-13 loss to Washington School. And the defense that allowed 18.7 points per game last year is giving up nearly 40 per game this season.

“Tackling,” Smithhart said when asked to identify his team’s single biggest problem. “I really think our offensive line is getting better, and if we get our two tackles back we’ll have our depth back. Our tackling has to get better.”

For Porters Chapel, the slow start has often been a case of being outmanned from the get-go. PCA, a Class AA school, has faced two Class AAA opponents and one AAAA team in its first four games.

PCA has been outscored 113-0 in the first half. It trailed 41-0 early in the second quarter last week against Hillcrest, and went on to lose 47-14.

The Eagles, though, have a realistic chance of making the playoffs despite their bad start. Sixteen of the 30 teams in Class AA will advance to the postseason — six district champions and 10 wild cards determined by a power point formula.

None of the other teams in District 5-AA are currently above .500, and PCA is 13th in the Class AA power point rankings. The power point formula provides bonuses for playing teams in larger classifications — a quirk that helped the Eagles reach the 2014 playoffs with a 2-8 record.

With several winnable games left on the schedule, Lynch felt like the worst part of the season is behind the Eagles.

“We’re learning to compete against teams that have so much more depth than us,” Lynch said. “But we’re definitely excited to play against teams in our own division.”