CALEDONIA — The playoffs have arrived.
Don’t worry, you’re not early, so don’t double check your calendar to make sure you missed something.
It’s just that the Caledonia High School football team has reached the knockout stage of the season one week prior to the official start of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A playoffs.
Sure, Caledonia coach Andy Crotwell would have loved to have wrapped up a playoff spot so he could be devising a game plan for his team’s first-round opponent. Unfortunately, a close loss to Louisville and a 47-33 loss to two-time reigning Class 4A State champion Noxubee County has left Caledonia (4-5, 1-3 Region 4A) where it has to win Friday night at Leake Central (4-6, 1-3) to earn the region’s fourth and final spot in the playoffs.
“They’re well aware that the playoffs basically started a week early for us,” Crotwell said. “I asked them earlier in the week if you want to keep playing, you have to win. If we play well, it is a game we will have a good chance to win.”
Caledonia used an 83-yard kick return by Zion Ford to start the third quarter to flip the momentum against Noxubee County. Senior quarterback Spencer Unruh also threw for 240 yards and four touchdowns in the program’s best showing against one of the area’s top teams in recent memory.
“I thought we threw and caught the ball well,” Crotwell said. “I thought at times we blocked well. I thought at times we could do a little bit better in all phases of the game offensively. … There is still room for improvement, but we have improved over the course of region play and since non-region play. You would like to see us mover further and further along. Hopefully, we will provide those opportunities for ourselves by winning.
“I think our guys are disappointed they didn’t win the game. I think they understand every game is a separate entity and that you can’t carry any points with you from a previous game, and whatever your successes or failures were in a previous game, you can’t carry it with you come 7 o’ clock this Friday. It will be a clean slate with all of the possibilities before them. It will be up to them to execute and perform or not.”
Crotwell said Caledonia will have to do that against a team that will try to use its running game to dictate the tempo. Caledonia has won the last two meetings in the series by scores of 35-28.
“They’re perfectly happy with 3 yards and a cloud of dust,” Crotwell said. “They have a physical quarterback who runs well and challenges you at the line of scrimmage. Their offensive line blocks well. They have two or three guys they can hand it to, and the quarterback has improved throwing the ball over the course of the season, so they present some dangers for you there, too. But their identity is one of spreading you out and formationing you a little bit and trying to get downhill on you a little bit.”
Two years ago, running back Brandon Henry had 34 carries for 224 yards and four touchdowns to help Caledonia rally from a two-touchdown deficit. The victory sent the Confederates back to the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
After missing the playoffs last season, Crotwell said his team, which features 28 seniors, understands the ramifications of tonight’s game.
“They have worked hard to prepare this week,” Crotwell said. “There seems to be focus and good effort in practice.
“We would prefer to already have it sewn up and working toward seeding, but they have an opportunity to control their own destiny. Our hope and expectation is that they will seize what is in front of them.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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