Wins have been difficult to come by for Clarkdale High School.

After back-to-back 0-11 seasons, the Bulldogs entered this year hungry to turn around a recent history of disappointment.

And for the first time since September 16, 2011, Clarkdale was in the winning column this past Friday after a 28-6 victory at Mount Olive High School. Head coach Wes Roy said the moment was an exciting one for his team — and hopefully a sign of continued success.

“Obviously, we played well,” Roy said. “It was very encouraging for us, because it has been a struggle the last couple of years. To get a win kind of re-energized the kids most importantly, as well as the school and community. It’s good, but we have to put it in the books and start looking to (this) week.”

The Bulldogs will have a tall task ahead of them if they want to make it two in a row as Clarkdale (1-2) is set to host Southeast Lauderdale High School (3-0) Friday, which is fresh off a 34-7 win versus Northeast Lauderdale High School last week.

“Southeast is a really good football team,” Roy said. “They have a lot of skill guys — that’s the first thing that sticks out to me. We’re going to have our hands full, but we’re going to give it the best shot we’ve got.

“Like I always say, we have to worry about us, and not so much worry about who we’re playing as much as how we play. We want to come out, get better as a football team and continue to play well.”

Southeast is off to a strong start this season, and head coach Charles Black said is been a steady improvement from week one to week three.

“We’ve been improving from week to week, and that’s the main thing,” Black said. “We’ve been playing pretty good defense and hitting some big plays on offense. I felt like last week we started sustaining a little bit more on offense, and hopefully we’ll improve a little bit more this week.”

Knowing the Bulldogs are fresh off their first win in several seasons, Black said he expects Clarkdale to have a lot of positive energy Friday evening.

“I’m seeing confidence after this other game (Clarkdale won),” Black said. “They won pretty big, and they played really physical and showed some explosiveness on offense, so we’re expecting a real tough, physical game.”

Going forward, Roy said having a win under their belts should be a big boost for his team mentally.

“Mentally, for them, it has to be huge, because for some of these guys, that’s the first one they’ve experienced,” Roy said. “The older players maybe experienced one or two in their career, but for these younger guys, it’s huge for them to know that they can get it done.”

Clarkdale will be minus wing back Dilan Williams after he fractured his ankle against Mount Olive.

“He’s out probably six to eight weeks,” Roy said. “It’s going to hurt us a little bit depth-wise, because he was also our starting safety. But, next man up. Someone has to come in and get the job done.”

While Clarkdale will look to build on its first win, Southeast will be looking to sustain the success it’s seen so far.

“Consistency and progress and hopefully staying away from the injury bug (will be key for us),” Black said. “We’re not really deep in some positions, so we really have to stay away from the injuries.”