In a serendipitous circumstance the Happy Valley Warriors and Rockwood Tigers meet on the playoff gridiron once again.
This time, however, HV is ranked number one, and Rockwood comes in at number four, and the game will be played on Warrior Hill.
In 2015 Rockwood took a 32-28 win to knock HV out in the first round, and that game became motivation for the way the Warriors have played in 2016.
“Last year we were happy to make it,” said Warriors head coach Jason Jarrett. “We had to beat South Greene down there in a tough game just to get in. This year we expected to be here, and now we want to compete and win the game. We played really well last year against them, but that won’t have any effect on Friday night’s game. We are both completely different teams, and you will see two great football teams battling to survive and advance.”
HV (9-1 overall, 6-1 conference) handed South Greene a 69-6 beating last week to clinch the conference title – the first for the Warriors since 2008 – and looked like a juggernaut in the process.
Senior running back Dylan Street scored three touchdowns – two rushing and one punt return – and junior wideout Brayden Sams had two touchdown receptions as HV scored on defense, special teams and on offense.
“Rockwood is a typical Region 2 football team,” Jarrett said. “Number one they are going to be strong and physical up front. They got some skill position kids that can stretch the field on you and obviously they are very well coached. They pose a big challenge to us Their 5-5 record is very misleading.”
The Tigers (5-5, 3-3 conference) are led by freshman quarterback Nate Brackett and a pair of junior running backs in Ryan McCain and Zander Price.
“Their quarterback has a great arm,” Jarrett said. “He does a good job of running their offense, and the two that really stick out to me are Zander Price and Ryan McCain. We saw McCain last year, and he is a big kid with good speed. Price is elusive, and he reminds me of our Dylan Street. Good speed and they have some wideouts that can stretch the field on you.
“They run, run, run and then they try to get one by you deep.”
When asked if the team was looking at revenge as a motivator this year Jarrett said, “We are going to have to play with razor sharp focus, like we did last week. The goal last year was getting back to the playoffs; now that is the expectation. We were trying to play for a conference championship, and we accomplished that goal as well. We want to do bigger and better things here and be contenders every year, and our kids understand, especially after playing them last year.”
Game time is 7 pm.