Wilson Central will play its first five football games at home before finishing the regular season with five straight road games.

That’s a flip flop from last year when the Wildcats were on the road for their first five games followed by five straight at home.

“It’s definitely kind of wild,” Wildcats coach Brad Dedman said. “The first five games are at home, but looking down the road when those five away games come along it’s definitely going to be a tough road for a playoff run and that type of stuff.”

Wilson Central went 2-3 in its first five road games in 2013 before a 4-1 showing at home. The Wildcats finished 6-5 after a first-round loss to Oakland in the Class 6A playoffs.

Wilson Central (0-1) lost to 6A runner-up Hendersonville 45-7 last Friday.

“Home-field advantage is kind of minor in a high school football game, at least around our place,” Dedman said. “We’ve just got to make sure we’re ready to go every Friday night. In some ways away games give the players a little more focus than some home games as far as distractions go.”

Several factors led to the five and five setup.

“We had Mt. Juliet and Lebanon both away one year, and financially it’s very hard to support that when (two) of your archrivals are definitely away so we flipped the game with Lebanon,” Dedman said. “So both teams get to play one of their county rivals at home for gate purposes.”

Three of Wilson Central’s non-district opponents only wanted home games last year.