DUDLEY — A football team’s character can often be measured by its ability to respond to adversity.

Rosewood and Southern Wayne have both been dealt their share of adversity in the past week.

The Eagles (1-1) lost senior quarterback Gio Pineda indefinitely to a dislocated left elbow during their 27-18 win at North Johnston on Aug. 29.

Heavy rains forced the Saints to reschedule their game with county rival Goldsboro from Aug. 30 to Tuesday night. Southern Wayne defeated Goldsboro 16-8 to improve to 1-1.

The Saints will have their conditioning and mental toughness tested as the prepare to play twice in the span of just four days.

Rosewood and Southern Wayne will meet for just the second time on Friday night at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex at 7 p.m.

The game can be heard on 98.3 WGBR and on Goldsborodailynews.com. The UNC Health Wayne pre-game show begins at 6:30 p.m.

The Eagles won their first-ever meeting with the Saints 30-12 last season at Branch Pope Field.

Senior wide receiver Hunter Sasser, a former junior varsity quarterback at Rosewood, was called upon to guide Rosewood’s offense when Pineda was injured at North Johnston.

Sasser finished 5 for 12 passing for 109 yards with a pair of touchdown passes, and three interceptions, as the Eagles rallied for their first win of the season.

With a full week of practice at the helm of the offense, and a former Rosewood quarterback in Josh Smith as his head coach and play-caller, how will Sasser perform with the reigns to the offense in his grasp?

“I think Hunter did a great job of taking control, and being able to distribute the ball when necessary,” Smith said. “He had a real big run in the fourth quarter to put us down near the goal line to help us to score. He just game-managed, and he was able to protect (the football) at times. Two of the interceptions he threw, one of them was a Hail Mary at the end of the first half, the second one was a forced one, and the third one was a fourth-down-and-20 situation. He did a good job of getting the ball to the right guys, and getting our offense lined up. This week’s just been real big on getting him more and more reps, and getting him more comfortable with taking more responsibility. We’ve added a couple of new things to what he can do and just trying to see what he’s comfortable with, and we’re trying to continue to put him in positions to be successful.”

Southern Wayne bounced back from a 38-0 loss at Eastern Wayne in its opener, with a stingy defense and just enough of a running game, to earn their fourth consecutive win over Goldsboro on Tuesday night.

The Saints’ defense turned in a pivotal goal-line stand in the fourth quarter, and also recovered two fumbles and had an interception.

Southern Wayne’s secondary, a group that head coach Matt Hine points to as the strength of the defense, also intercepted a pair of passes against Eastern Wayne.

“Defensively, we came into the season thinking we were returning a ton of people who started (last season), and if they didn’t start they played a lot for us in the secondary,” Hine said. “So far, that’s been a strength for us. When we played Eastern Wayne two weeks ago, we had two interceptions, and we had another one against Goldsboro, and we dropped another one. We’ve been very pleased with our secondary.”

Establishing a running game early, getting off the field defensively on third down and avoiding costly turnovers all figure to be key factors in Dudley on Friday night.

Rosewood forced the Saints into costly turnovers in their victory over Southern Wayne last season, while the Eagles’ offense rushed for 237 yards and five touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Jaylyn Bowden leads the Saints with 158 rushing yards and a touchdown on 31 carries.

Bowden and the Southern Wayne offense will be facing a Rosewood defense that has given up 769 yards (384.5 yards per game) and 10 touchdowns in the first two weeks. The Eagles are allowing 8.5 yards per play, and of the 10 touchdowns they’ve allowed this season, eight of them have been on the ground.

“I think it’s the same thing every week, and it’s protecting the football and not giving a team like Southern Wayne extra opportunities,” Smith said. “One thing we’ve got to do is we’ve got to get off the field on fourth down. The last two weeks against both North Johnston and C.B. Aycock, is we’ve given them some third-and-long situations or fourth-and-long situations, and they’ve been able to convert. If we can get off the field defensively, and not let those guys, who once the ball is in their hands be difference makers, I think we’ll have a really good chance at the end to give ourselves a chance to win.”