Even though East Marion’s chances to claim the Region 7-2A title are all but nil, this Friday night, when Bogue Chitto visits Les Peters Field, the Eagles have a chance to virtually secure a first-round home game in the playoffs.
The Eagles (2-5, 1-1) and Bogue Chitto (5-2, 1-1) are tied for second in the district standings, and both of them will have a relatively easy game to close out their district slate in the weeks to come. While Bogue Chitto’s record appears a lot better than East Marion’s 2-5 mark, the Eagles played a much more difficult non-district schedule and had to take two forfeits because of quarantine.
The most telling way to judge how the two teams match up is to look at their lone common opponent, Loyd Star (8-0, 2-0). The Eagles dropped a heartbreaker two weeks ago to the Hornets 35-32 that easily could have gone the other way, while the Bobcats had an eerily similar experience, losing to Loyd Star 26-24 last week.
East Marion head coach Brad Hughes said the Bobcats are really good in the box, particularly on defense. In Bogue Chitto’s three games prior to losing to Loyd Star last week, the Bobcats allowed just 13 points combined against Mize, Puckett and West Lincoln. Although Puckett is the only one of those three with a winning record, that run illustrates how dominant the Bobcats defense can be.
“They have a couple of good D-linemen and a really good linebacker that is all over the field,” he said.
The second-year coach added that if the Eagles block well enough up front, he likes their chances to put up some points because he feels like they hold an advantage when it comes to overall team speed.
Although Bogue Chitto hasn’t put up a ton of points this season, its offense can be explosive and make all the plays with its ground game it needs to complement its stingy defense.
“They have a good athlete in No. 5. Their quarterback throws it decent. They don’t throw it a lot, but he can make plays. They do some misdirection stuff and some counters, and they have been gashing people with it. We really have to be disciplined on defense,” Hughes said. “We have to find No. 5 every play — he’s their best playmaker.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
