HANCEVILLE — Danny Miller and the Hanceville football team have found themselves in some pretty unfamiliar territory with just a few games left in the season.

Winless. Injury-plagued. Lacking depth. Just name it, and it’s probably ailing the Bulldogs at this moment in time.

Hanceville is presently 0-7 and destined to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2011. Miller’s squad has averaged only 9.1 points per game, while the defense have yielded a serious 37.6 to its opponents. The Purple and Gold had a 30-member roster on opening day. It now stands at just 18.

“It’s been tough, I’ll say that,” Miller said. “You are going to through some years like this. When you do, it seems like we’ll all work way harder than we do when we’re winning games. It has been a great group of kids to work with, though. I hate it for them and the community that we haven’t been a little bit more successful this year.”

That could all change on Friday evening, however, when the Bulldogs welcome in their county-rival Holly Pond for a superb showdown of teams looking for their first win of the season.

The Broncos have showed marked improvement during Year 2 under coach Mike Bates, playing fourth-quarter contests with Collinsville, Susan Moore, Winston County and Vinemont.

In fact, Miller pointed out the Green and White have played common opponents a whole lot better than Hanceville has in the 2014 campaign.

“They’ve gotten so much better,” he said. “Mike and I were coaches at Cullman together back in the day. I knew if they hired him, he was going to go some good things there, and it seems like he has. He’s got those guys playing and believing.”

Unfortunately for Bates and Co., they’ll be without starting sophomore quarterback Michael Lambert. Lambert suffered a broken clavicle during last week’s 35-21 loss to Vinemont.

Season-ending injuries happen to be something Miller could live without for the next few years.

“It’s just all caught up with us this season,” he said. “We’ve had kids leaving, inexperience and more injuries than I believe we’ve ever had. With such low numbers, we have got kids on both sides of the ball. More playing is going to raise that risk for injuries.”

Seniors Dant’e Reese and Tanner Waldrep have both had a heavy dose of good and bad in their time with their team for the past four years.

However, going from perennial playoff participants to looking for a win midway through October can make any football player reflect on the tough times.

“We’ve always won, so it’s been a different deal this season,” Waldrep said. “We just want to get wins now. Nothing else for us matters. We’ve got to outwork them and want it more than them on Friday.”

Added Reese: “Inexperience has been really hard to overcome this year. That’s been the key. And keeping guys healthy. They aren’t use to it. I’m not used to it. We’re just hoping to go out with a bang now.”

Despite the rough season, Miller said this year’s team as been one of the most coachable in his career — even those that have gone undefeated at both Hanceville and Cullman.

While almost all of their preseason goals have come and gone, Miller is still hoping to see his guys work hard and give an effort that inspires those on and coming out for next year’s squad.

“Good things will happen when you do that,” he said. “ I have been telling the guys, especially the seniors, that’s it going to be over before you know it. This is a good opportunity to pick up a win. Same for Holly Pond. It’s probably the best chance for both teams looking at the schedule. We’ll have a good week of practice and be ready to play on Friday.”