The last two weeks of the season will determine seeding for the playoffs, and while that won’t change for Parkers Chapel, the Trojans do have one benefit that many teams across the state won’t have.
On Friday night, the Trojans travel to Foreman for a non-conference game that serves as a dress rehearsal not only for Parkers Chapel’s showdown against Hampton that will determine whether or not they start the playoffs at home, but for the postseason itself.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
The Trojans (1-5) forfeited their game at Fordyce last week due to a lack of players, while the Gators (0-8) fell 64-14 to Lafayette County.
The schools last met two years ago with Foreman coming away with a 30-14 win over the Trojans.
Parkers Chapel coach Elliot Jacobs said the players who suffered injuries against Junction City are all slated to return this week.
“We lost one to a concussion, but he’ll be ready to go. We had another with a knee injury, but having a week off helped him,” Jacobs said. “We had a couple of foot injuries on the offensive line, but those guys were able to come back this week, so we’re a lot more healthy this week than we would’ve been having to go into Fordyce with only four healthy linemen.”
The Trojans are also getting plenty of reinforcements. With Parkers Chapel having wrapped up their junior high season Tuesday at Strong, 13 players will be moving up to the varsity.
“With so many kids in junior high, we’ve put them in senior high jerseys all year,” Jacobs said. “They’re used to that. They’ve been practicing with us every day all year, so they’re used to that.
“It shouldn’t be a big factor for most of them because they’re competing against the same kids they’ve been competing with every day at practice.”
Among the freshmen that are moving up is Dyson Dougan, who Jacobs said is starting at quarterback.
“We’re going to start Dyson Dougan, our freshman, at quarterback on Friday,” Jacobs said. “We’re going to give him some quick and easy throws and get his confidence up. We feel our future is with him at quarterback, so we’re going to throw him in there and see how he can do.”
By having Dougan at quarterback, it allows playmakers Lancer Clark and Payton Willeford to play at their natural spots while adding a new dynamic to the offense.
“Quite a bit,” Jacobs said of how much the Trojans’ look on offense will change. “We’ve got some more kids that we want to get the ball to. Jaylen Gray, Christian Minor is a freshman that we’re moving up. He’s very good with the ball in his hands.
“Dyson allows us to throw the ball vertically downfield, a little more accurate on the short game. Payton did a heck of a job for us, but that’s not his natural position where it is Dougan’s. Dyson’s got to understand that at the senior high level that he just has to get the ball to our playmakers as quickly as possible and let those guys make the plays.”
Jacobs said several of the freshmen will get a chance to play on special teams.
“A couple of kids will be expected to help us offensively and defensively,” Jacobs said. “A lot of them will plug in at special teams to give some of our major players breaks, so we feel it’s going to help us.”
The new additions coupled with the veterans getting a week off could prove to be a big benefit for the Trojans.
“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Jacobs said. “Lancer got banged up at Junction City with a knee injury, but he should be back healthy this week for us. It was definitely good that him and Payton got the week off. The physicality part of it, they didn’t have to worry about that, and they should be good to go for Friday.”
Jacobs said his offensive line will be tested by the Gators.
“They’ve struggled this year, but the kids play hard,” Jacobs said. “Offensively, they’ll line up in a spread and they’ll line up in a two-tight wishbone, so we’ve got to have a game plan for both sets. They do some good things out of each one of them. Defensively, they’re a four-front, something we haven’t seen the last few weeks.
“We’ve got to do a good job this week of preparing. We need to make sure our line knows what they’re responsible for in the run game and our protection game.”
Jacobs said he was going to change things up some with all of the new faces joining the team.
“We’re going to change our styles up a little bit offensively and defensively,” Jacobs said. “We’re going to put some more people on the field. We’re going to go at a little faster pace offensively, so I want to see us execute at a high level.
“We feel that if we can speed up the game, that only helps us, especially going against Hampton, who like us, numbers are low, but maybe they don’t have the freshmen to bring up like we do, so we want to go fast offensively.
“Defensively, we’ll rotate some fresh bodies in and fly around. I was very pleased with how they competed against Junction. A few plays here and there, we felt like we could’ve made it a better ballgame defensively for us.”