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The LaFayette Bulldogs are preparing for what could possibly be their last season as a program, but that isn’t affecting their preparation or their outlook of the season.

The Bulldogs will open their season against Trinity on Tuesday, and boys head coach Chase Lewis knows it’ll be a challenge since he knows the Trinity coach well.

“It kind of deflated us not having a game tonight,” Lewis said about their canceled game against Notasulga.

“Trinity is going to be a very difficult task for us. They beat us last year. I’ve been good friends with their coach for four or five years. We have a friendly competition. We always play each other early in the year. We’re two different style teams.”

Lewis explained how different the teams are.

“Trinity is very good at executing their offense,” Lewis said. “They’re a high IQ basketball team. I watched them play Prattville Christian the other night, and they won. They play good man-to-man defense. I appreciate those kinds of games because it raises our IQ. We’re very athletic, and we’re pretty composed. This game will help us in the long run.”

Lewis feels like knowing the other coach well will give both teams an advantage.

“We know each other’s style dating back to when I coached at Ashford High School,” Lewis said. “We’re both excited to see how our kids react. We talked the other day, and his team looks like all the teams he’s coached.”

Lewis and his team aren’t worried about this possibly being their last season opener as a program.

“We don’t talk about it all,” Lewis said. “We’re focused on what we need to do as a group to get better each day. We just want to focus on each day. We’re going to study Trinity, and then we’ll turn to Valley. We just have to take it day by day and not worry about the future.”

Lewis knows there are still things to work on before their game on Tuesday.

“We’re just working on defense,” Lewis said. “We’re sharpening up our philosophy. We’ve been good on defense. We just have to make sure we continue to be good defensively. We need to make sure we’re a little sharper and quicker. We have to make sure everybody knows their role. We’re perfecting all the little stuff.”

Lewis feels like playing bigger schools will help his team improve more than anything.

“We’re a small school,” Lewis said. “We were supposed to play Auburn on Nov. 3, but that didn’t work out. I look forward to taking on challenges just to see where we’re at to start the season. We started last year with a win at Troup, and it felt good for a day or two. We just want to maintain that even level. We want to treat each game as its own.”

Although the Bulldogs lost their leading scorer from last year, Lewis feels good about his team before their first game.

“I feel a whole lot better because I was able to get a summer with this group,” Lewis said. “I was only able to get with my team a few weeks before the season started last year. We did lose our top three scorers and two rebounders. It’s crazy that I feel a lot better. It’s more of a chemistry thing. We weren’t as close of a team as I would have liked last year. It doesn’t mean that the season will be better.”

The Bulldogs will play Trinity at home at 4:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday.