SELMA — A bruised and battered Concordia College football team is only five plays away from an undefeated season.

Now without its starting quarterback, the Hornets (1-3) head for Valdosta, Ga., on Saturday to take on Savannah State.

For coach Shepherd Skanes, the emphasis right now is on the players’ spirits.

“We’ve got to keep the morale of the team up,” Skanes said Thursday at practice. “And we’re going to have to count on the younger kids to step up this week.”

Starting quarterback T’Chelpio Woods was knocked out of last week’s 24-13 loss to Benedict College in Miami with a concussion. Larry Kerlegan, a transfer from Grambling State, will be the starting signal-caller.

With Benedict — as with Alabama State and Shaw University the two previous weeks — Skanes emphasized his displeasure.

“We should have won,” he said about the Benedict game in the Miami-Dade Football Classic. “They only scored 10 points on offense.

“We had a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown,” Skanes said. “Our guy got the call wrong and missed the blocking assignment. Then there was a red-zone interception that they took to the house. And those were back-to-back plays.”

The Hornets’ offense also was snakebit.

“We took the ball downfield and scored a touchdown,” Skanes said. “But it was called back for holding.”

Against Alabama State and Shaw, the Hornets drove within striking distance of the end zone and the winning score. Concordia, however, could not convert and gave the ball over on downs to end the game.

Skanes praised the play of his defensive unit from Saturday’s game.

“We played lights-out defense,” he said. “We had about 300 yards total offense, and we held them to about 200.”

Concordia College returns home next week for the first of two games at home. The University of New Orleans will be the Hornets’ homecoming opponent at 2 p.m. Oct. 3.