SELMA — Wilcox Academy has been battling an unseen opponent this week, so traveling to Selma on Friday to face Meadowview Christian School may be something of a relief.

Wildcats coach Chris Burford said Wilcox has been fighting a 24- to 48-hour bug.

“We’ve got sickness going through the team,” Burford said. “I don’t know that it’s the flu; it’s more of a viral thing. But we’ve had several cases.

“We’ve had about 30 kids out of class in the ninth-12th grades,” he said.

Players who have been tackled by the bug early in the week have bounced back well enough to play Friday. Burford hopes the number who catch the illness later will be able to perform.

The Wildcats (1-1) should match up well with the Meadowview Trojans (0-2), Burford said.

“They are similar to our first two opponents,” said Burford, whose squad lost to Sumter Academy 18-14 in the opener before blanking Sparta 20-0 last week. “Meadowview is young like we are and they have the skill folks. I think it will be a good game.”

Meadowview lost soundly 35-7 in the opener against a much-larger No. 5-ranked Tuscaloosa team, then fell to Jackson 18-12.

Burford said his inexperienced troops are learning more each game, which was evident in last week’s victory.

“Our young guys are getting better,” he said. “We had several touchdowns called back last week, and we didn’t punt at all in the game.”

If Burford doesn’t have all his Wildcats available for the Selma visit, he hopes he can turn to other players.

“We’ve got a couple of kids back who haven’t been able to play this year,” he said. “So we’ll have to see what happens.”

Also playing on Friday night are matchups of four ranked teams. No. 6-ranked Maplesville plays host to No. 3 R.A. Hubbard in Class 1A action, while No. 10 Lowndes Academy goes to No. 2 Edgewood.