By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor –
A home field playoff berth will be on the line Friday for Southwest Covenant.
The Patriots will close out their regular season on the road at Grandfield in a District C-2 match-up. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Southwest Covenant played in week zero and will have a bye week the 10th week of the season, giving the Patriots two weeks to prepare for their first round playoff opponent. SWCS has secured a playoff spot and a win ensures them the runner-up spot in the district and host a first round playoff game against the third place team from District C-1.
A loss would put the Patriots in a three-way tie for second with Grandfield and Mountain View-Gotebo and it would come down to points. The Patriots have a plus 30 points, Mountain View a plus 8 and Grandfield 0.
It would also be the first time the Patriots would host a playoff game. SWCS is 0-3 in playoff games.
Grandfield comes into the game with a 2-5 record with their only two wins over Temple and Corn Bible Academy (both who are winless on the season). The Parriots are 7-2 overall.
Both teams are coming off losses to Tipton, Grandfield 52-0 two weeks ago and SWCS 52-12 last week.
“The best scenario is we go down and get a win and then not have to worry where we will be going the first week of the playoffs,” SWCS head coach Trey Cloud said. “We don’t want to get into a thing where we have to count on someone else to help decide where we finish, we want to do that on our own.
“We know what we have to do at Grandfield this week and I know the players just want to go there and take care of business,” he said. “We can’t concern ourselves with what Grandfield’s record is or who they have beaten or lost too, we need to focus on ourselves, play our best game and if we do that, we can come away with a win.”
Grandfield has had two weeks to prepare for the Patriots. The Bearcats are predominantly a running team, led by Jerome Whittington and Martin Torres. Quarterback Kayden Davis is also part of the run game, but he can throw the ball when called on. He has A.J. Brown and Garrett Wampler in the pass game.
The Patriots will be looking to come in and get the run game going early with Trevor Kelly and Nathan Hagan. Sam Webb was limited in his amount of passes last week, but will be able to throw the ball this week if needed.
“We feel we can move the ball on the ground against Grandfield,” Cloud said. “Their defense has had some problems stopping the run at times and we feel we can attack those areas. Sam hasn’t thrown the ball much in the past few weeks, but he hasn’t had. We know we can throw the ball with success against their defense.
“It is going to be a big game and we want to earn that first home playoff game,” he said. “We just need to go down and take care of business early, put them in a hole and then take control of the game.”
