Petal is just one win away from securing its 13th consecutive playoff spot.
Petal could either be a No. 3 or a No. 4 seed in the playoffs, depending on the Pearl versus Brandon game.
If Pearl beats Brandon, then Petal would be the No. 4 seed, but if the results are vice versa, then the Panthers would secure the No. 3 seed.
However, the Panthers will have to defeat Terry (2-6, 1-4) to get back in.
Luckily for Petal, the Panthers were able to use last week as a bye after George County forfeited as a result of COVID-19
“You don’t want to wish COVID on anyone, but it was a really good week for us to be off,” Petal coach Marcus Boyles said. “We got some kids healthy and some kids back from quarantine. It’s a positive for us.
“We want to make sure that we take care of business. I think our kids are anxious to get back on the field and play.”
Terry got off to a slow start to the year and forfeited three games as a result of having to quarantine. In total, Terry has played just five games on the football field, but in the last two weeks, the Bulldogs earned a forfeit win against George County and last week fell short to Meridian 15-7.
“They got a late start to the season because of COVID and missed a couple of games,” Boyles said. “To me, it’s a typical Terry team with good athletes. It’s hard to get a gage on them because they’ll play a game and then are off two or three weeks.”
Terry’s defense has given up 36 points a game on the season. According to Boyles, preparing for the Bulldogs’ defense will be a challenge because they have played in five different defensive schemes on the season.
“They have been a 3-4, a 3-3 stack, they played some 4-3 and one week they a played 5-2 defense,” Boyles said. “We are not real sure what we are going to get. We just have to be prepared for anything and make adjustments as the game goes.
The only certainty with Terry is that the Bulldogs will depend on their skillset players in the secondary and at wide receiver.
“Their secondary and skill guys (are key),” Boyles said. “They have great skill guys every year. It doesn’t matter what kind of team they have, but they’ll have talented skill guys, and they’ll play on both sides of the ball.”
Terry’s offense has averaged 18.6 points per game. According to Boyles, Terry’s offense will throw to ball in a spread offense and try to get the ball to its skillset players to create plays.
“Offensively, they are a spread football team,” Boyles said. “They want to throw it around. They have a couple of good receivers that make things happen. That’s kind of what I see on offense.”
