It wasn’t the prettiest or cleanest way of getting into the postseason, but Oak Hill Academy has found itself as a playoff team, the No. 11 seed in the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Class 4A playoffs.
Despite a less-than-stellar 3-7 season, the Raiders won where it mattered most, finishing 2-2 in district play to sneak into the playoffs as the second-to-last seed.
Oak Hill heads on the road to begin the postseason, a first-round playoff matchup against Winston Academy, who struggled in district play but finished 6-4 overall, and the Raiders are ready for the challenge.
“When you look at the brackets, you have to take it one game at a time, but everyone in our bracket, we’ve played already,” head coach Bill Rosenthal said. “It’s not like we’re going to be playing teams we don’t know. The bottom line is, we have to take it one at a time.”
The two teams met in the regular season in a game most Oak Hill fans will want to forget. The Patriots made quick work of the Raiders in West Point, winning 54-21.
That win made it three-straight over Oak Hill for Winston, who had lost the three previous matchups to that point.
Winston comes in at the heavy favorite, but that’s just given the Raiders that much more motivation to come out strong on Friday night.
“We can’t have turnovers,” Rosenthal said. “We have to sustain drives and not give them short fields. … It’s like we told them, everyone is 0-0 right now. You don’t get many chances to start over. … I think they’ll be ready to play.”
McLaurin (1-8) at Noxubee County (5-4), 7 p.m.
Noxubee County has found its rhythm over the past two weeks, improving to 2-1 in district play with a dominant win over Southeast Lauderdale on the road.
The path to winning a district title is unfortunately no longer viable as Kemper County, who came back to beat the Wildcats in their district opener, are currently 3-0 in district.
They are firmly in the driver’s seat, but Nouxbee County is close behind, looking to secure second place in the district on Friday night as the postseason looms.
“We want to go into the playoffs on a winning note,” head coach Teddy Young said. “… We’re treating every game from here on out as the playoffs.”
These two programs have yet to meet in any game, either regular season or postseason, but since their season-opening win, McLaurin has lost eight-straight games, including three-straight in district play. Defensive struggles have the program winless in district play heading into the final game of the season.
So far this season, the Tigers have allowed 43.2 points per game to opponents, something that plays perfectly for Noxubee, a team that’s scored 34 points per game offensively.
It’s the perfect regular season finale to keep momentum rolling into the postseason.
“We’ve been preaching to them that our mindset has to go into a playoff mindset.,” Young said. “We have to focus on doing the little things right because one bad game in the playoffs and you’ll be at home.”
Vicksburg (5-3) at Columbus (1-8), 7 p.m.
Wins have been so close, yet so far away for Columbus over the past two weeks, who have suffered back-to-back one-point losses in district play.
Two points the other way in each game could have seen the Falcons with a 2-1 district record, essentially securing themselves a spot in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A playoffs.
Instead, they are 0-3, desperately searching for a win to keep their playoff hopes alive. Columbus controls its own destiny, but in its way are two of the best teams in their district, beginning with Vicksburg on Friday.
“Even though the season hasn’t gone as we’ve expected, it’s like life,” head coach Josh Pulphus said. “One thing we try to relate football to here at Columbus is life principles. In life, when adversity hits or when things don’t seem right, you don’t quit or give up. You just go out there and keep fighting.”
Recent history hasn’t been kind to Columbus (1-8) against Vicksburg, last losing to the Gators, 45-28, in 2018, but the year previous saw a 27-7 win.
It’s now been five years since the two teams played, and now as district rivals, they’ll be seeing plenty of each other in the coming seasons.
The Gators pride themselves on their defense, allowing under 17.5 points per game this season, so if Columbus wants a crack at Vicksburg to get its first win in district play, all hands must be on deck.
“The mood at practice has been great,” Pulphus said. ”… Team morale hasn’t been affected. At the end of the day, it’s missed opportunities, but we just need to live and grow from them.”
New Hope (0-8) at Lafayette (4-4), 7 p.m.
Wins, points, momentum – all have been hard to come by for New Hope football this year as the Trojans remain winless with two games left in the regular season.
Those two games present an opportunity to sneak into the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A playoffs. But, while the opportunity is there for the taking, it seems quite a distance away.
“This is the hardest part of rebuilding after losing so many seniors and inheriting so many young guys,” head coach Seth Stillman said. “They’re improving and it doesn’t show on the scoreboard. It’s been difficult for them to continue to work and grind, but they do every day.”
The closest New Hope (0-8) came to a win this year was in a 34-27 loss to Corinth two weeks ago, a team that is now 2-1 in district play despite a 3-5 record overall.
That game also represents the only time the Trojans have scored more than 20 points in a game, averaging barely above 10 points per game so far this season.
Everything could change in an instant with a road win against Lafayette this week, a tough task on its own as the Commodores are looking for revenge following a loss to West Point last week.
However, everything needs to go right and everything needs to be played to perfection for the Trojans to be in that position.
“Really well-coached team,” Stillman said. “They have guys in skill positions that can get after it and a quarterback who can deliver the ball as well. It’s going to be a tall task for us.”
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