CHARLESTON- You can tell that the state football playoffs are just around the corner by looking at the weather. The past few years, the weather has deteriorated to rain and cold temperatures around the final week of the regular season and into the following week’s first round of the state playoffs. This season appears to be no different with the forecast of plunging temperatures. The Class 3A state football playoffs will begin next Friday, November 10th.
At press time for this story, the Charleston Tigers were looking to get past their week eight loss to Booneville with a game at West Fork on October 27. A win at West Fork maintains second place in the 3A-1 conference as the Tigers head into this Friday’s Senior Night finale with Lavaca. The Golden Arrows were preparing for game two of the final three game gauntlet in the closing weeks of their schedule. On October 20, the Arrows lost to Mansfield who may end the season as the number three seed in the conference. Last week, the Arrows traveled to Booneville, and this week, the gauntlet will end at Charleston.
Lavaca appears to be heading for the number five seed from conference 3A-1. As of October 26, the Arrows are tied in the conference with Hackett at 3-2 in the conference. Hackett has a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over Lavaca due to their win over the Arrows on September 29 when Hackett defeated Lavaca, 42-35. Mansfield also has a tiebreaker advantage over Lavaca by virtue of their head-to-head win over the Arrows on October 20, 43-19.
With remaining games at Booneville and Charleston, it will be a difficult path for the Arrows to overcome Hackett for the fourth seed. As of October 26, Hackett has conference games remaining with Greenland and Mansfield. In fact, if Lavaca were to lose to both Booneville and Charleston, Hackett would only have to split its remaining games with Mansfield and Greenland to secure the number four seed.
As of October 26, the standings in the 3A-1 conference were:
Booneville 5-0
Charleston 4-1
Mansfield 3-2
Lavaca 3-2
Hackett 3-2
West Fork 1-4
Cedarville 1-4
Greenland 0-5
The Charleston Tigers played an inspired game with the Booneville Bearcats in their 25-15 loss on October 20 at Alumni Field. Playing without their sophomore starting quarterback, Carter Little, the Tigers defense played hard and kept Charleston in the game. Charleston was looking to get back in the win column at West Fork last week and refocus on an offensively dangerous Lavaca team on the Tigers’ Senior Night this Friday.
At deadline time for this story, Charleston will likely finish as the number two seed from the 3A-1. The Tigers will play a number four seed from the 3A-6 at Alumni Field on November 10 at 7 p.m. That opponent could be either Rison or Drew Central. We will have a playoff preview of area teams next week on our website at residentnewsnetwork.com following the completion of the regular season.
But first things first. Both Lavaca and Charleston have a lot to play for with respect to the ensuing playoffs. Tigers fans will want to come out early to catch the pregame ceremony to honor a very special class of seniors who were part of a state championship and helped transition the program back into a position of success for this year and into future seasons. That ceremony will be held at approximately 6:30 p.m.
Congratulations to all of the high school football seniors who could be playing their final game of their lives on Friday. Thank you all for the wonderful memories, and we hope you enjoyed your playing careers!
