Five of the six area schools will be in playoff action this week with only two at home.
Newton County will host Amory and Sebastopol will host East Union. Meanwhile, Newton County Academy will make the long road trip to Ben’s Ford and Union will also have a long road trip to Walnut. Lake will also be on the road as they make a shorter trip to Mize.
Amory at Newton County
The Cougars will open the Class 4A playoffs at home as they host Amory on Friday night.
The Panthers are 7-3 on the season after finishing third in Division 1-4A play. They are coming off a 51-26 loss to Shannon and also lost 19-14 to Itawamba AHS.
“Amory is a football town and historically have always been good,” County coach Bobby Bass said. “It goes back to the 80s and 90s when Bobby Hall was there. We played them when I was at Tupelo and they have a lot of tradition. I don’t think our kids know anything about Amory but they are always good in football. They are very multiple on offense and are kind of like us. They do a lot of things. The will be spread, doubling and jump in a whole bunch of stuff. We will prepare our butts off and let the chips fall where they may.”
East Union at Sebastopol
The Bobcats will open the Class 2A playoffs at home this week as they host East Union.
The Urchins are 5-4 on the season and finished third in Division 1-2A. They lost 50-20 to Walnut last week and 44-28 to Hamilton the week before.
“I think it’s huge to host a first-round playoff game,” Brown said. “Mainly because you wouldn’t be talking about a short road trip to places like Walnut or East Union. I wasn’t looking forward to that road trip up north. Now, we get to play at home. We were in a hole and fought back and Thought that was big for our kids. They are ready for it to end and that’s really important this time of the season.”
NCA at Ben’s Ford
The Generals will hit the road this week and make the long road trip to Bogalusa, La., to take on Ben’s Ford.
The Eagles are 9-1 on the season and had a first-round bye in the Class 2A playoffs after finishing as the No. 4 seed. Their lone loss was a 29-22 setback to NCA on Sept. 13. Since the, the Eagles have won six straight.
“We beat them 29-22 and were down and had to drive the field and scored with a minute left in the game,” NCA coach Stevie Nelson said. “I have looked back at that filmed since then, we have made some personnel moves on defense and are playing a lot better. We are only giving up 11 points a game with our starters and that’s pretty good in eight-man. If we can hold them to 14 points, I like our chances. We just have to keep on keeping on and see what happens.”
Lake at Mize
The Hornets will hit the road to take on the Bulldogs in the first round of the class 2A playoffs.
The Bulldogs are 7-3 on the season and finished second in Division 8-2A with their lone loss in division play coming to Heidelberg (52-0). Their lone common opponent is Newton, whom the Bulldogs beat 49-12.
“They are a double-wing, two-tight, old-school football team,” Lake coach Tate Hanna said. “They run a lot of triple option and are really good at it. They will have some huge splits and try to take advantage of you. My thing is stopping the triple option. They will run both midline and veer and the quarterback is really intelligent and does a good job running both. They have a very good wing back and he has well over 100 yards. It’s like playing Navy. It will be a challenge and we will have to be very disciplined on defense.”
Union at Walnut
Union will hit the road for a lengthy road trip this week as they travel almost to the Tennessee state line to take on Walnut.
Walnut is 7-3 on the season and the No. 1 seed out of Division 1-2A. They eat East Union 50-20 last week to secure the division championship.
“They are big up front and do a really good job on offense of getting in a lot of formations to get the ball to one player,” Union coach Jordan Wren said. “He’s 6-1, 220 pounds and their best football player. They use every way you can imagine to get the football in his hands. Their quarterback throws it well enough to make them effective. They run a three-stack on defense, which is hard to block. We have to be very sound in blocking a gap because you don’t know who will be there.”
