It will all be on the line Friday night when Columbia Academy plays host to Wayne Academy in a District 4 showdown.
The Cougars (1-8, 0-1) are on the outside looking in of the playoff picture and could really use a big win against the Jaguars (4-4, 1-0). Wayne Academy has been up-and-down this season with big wins against weak opponents and big losses against strong teams. But the Jaguars have been much more consistent than the Cougars and have the weapons to give CA a tough contest.
“They’ve got an aggressive team, and they definitely play hard,” CA head coach TC Chambliss said. “Defensively, they’re going to get after your tail, and they’ve got some good athletes. Offensively, it starts with No. 2, their quarterback (Stone Ross). If you can’t game plan to cage him in, it’s going to be a long day. As he goes, so do they. They’ve got a couple of good targets to throw at. They’re going to try to run the football, which is the name of their game.”
He added if the Cougars can manage to slow down the Jaguars’ rushing attack, they have a chance to come away with a win.
On the other side of the ball, Chambliss said he believes with what the Cougars have been doing in recent weeks with Preston Sauls and Kris Ginn in the ground game, they should be able to move the ball just fine against the Jaguars. Where the game could be won for CA is with its passing attack, which was completely shut down against Simpson Academy.
The Cougars revamped their play-action passing this week in practice, and Chambliss believes there could be some big plays available to CA if it executes the way it’s capable of.
“We can also use their aggressiveness against them with the screen game,” he said. “This is the kind of ball game we’ve been ironing out those screen issues for, against a team that sends the house like they do.”
If the Cougars are going to make the playoffs, it has to start this week against the Jaguars.
While the Cougars do have an outside chance of making the postseason with only one win in their final two games, the only way to cement a spot in the playoff bracket is to beat Wayne and Bowling Green next week.
“It’s crunch time. These last two games are for all the marbles. It’s do-or-die,” Chambliss said. “I’ve made no bones about it with the boys. It’s ‘How bad do you want to get in?’ What we didn’t do at the beginning of the year doesn’t matter. It’s all built up for this. Our opportunity is there if we want to get in and try to make some noise. If we don’t, it’s completely on us and would be our own fault. We still have a chance, and with all the growing pains and mistakes that we’ve made, that’s remarkable.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
