[10/7/03]The easiest way to describe the playoff race in Conference 5-A is, quite simply, to call it a mess.

With three weeks left in the regular season, six of the seven teams are still alive for a postseason berth. All of the 5-A teams face non-conference foes this week, then return to conference play Oct. 17 for what is likely to be a wild two-week sprint.

Only Greenville Christian, with an 0-5 record in the conference, has been eliminated. All of the contenders still have games against each other, raising the possibility of a three- or even four-way tie. Some teams need lots of help, others control their own destiny, and still others are trying to sneak in.

All of the playoff scenarios are enough to leave even the most hardened mathematician reaching for a bottle of aspirin.

“There is no front-runner. There’s five in the pack, and if they played 10 times the record would probably be 5-5. It’s that wide open,” Briarfield coach Lance Prine said.

If there is a three- or four-way tie, it will be broken by a complex system of point differentials and totals. Only the top two teams in each conference are assured of a playoff spot. If things stay simple, here are the situations that will have teams either playing football or preparing for basketball season:

Briarfield is one of two teams that controls its own destiny. The Rebels, who beat Porters Chapel Academy 30-29 on Friday, can clinch a playoff spot with a win against either Sharkey-Issaquena or Tallulah.

Briarfield (6-1, 4-0 in conference play) can clinch the conference title with a win over SIA (5-2, 2-2) and a Tallulah loss to Humphreys on Oct. 17, or by beating Tallulah (6-1, 3-1) on Oct. 24. If Tallulah beats Humphreys (2-5, 1-3), its game against Briarfield will be for the conference title regardless of the outcome of the Briarfield-SIA game.

Two losses to contenders SIA and Tallulah would likely put Briarfield out of postseason contention, however.

“We don’t have a district loss, but we’ve got to play the two toughest teams in the district. This is a long way from being over,” Prine said. “Sharkey’s got a great team, Tallulah’s got a great team, and we’ve still got one game to concentrate on before we get to them. This race is still wide open.”

Tallulah also controls its own destiny, but may be in an all-or-nothing situation.

The Trojans have won three straight conference games after dropping their opener, and can win a second straight conference championship by winning their last two games against Humphreys and Briarfield.

A loss in either game could leave Tallulah at home for the playoffs, though. PCA (3-4, 2-2) has the tiebreaker over the Trojans, thanks to its 7-6 win on Sept. 12, and several other teams need Tallulah to lose one or both of its remaining conference games to have a chance.

PCA needs some help to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1998. The Eagles spent 48 minutes Friday night trying to beat Briarfield, but now find themselves in the strange position of cheering for the Rebels.

If PCA wins its last two games, against Deer Creek and Humphreys, and Briarfield wins its last two, PCA will beat Tallulah on a tiebreaker for the second playoff spot. The Eagles cannot win the conference title, and will be eliminated from playoff contention with another loss.

“We’ve got two district losses. We win the last two, and we’re 4-2, and anything can happen,” PCA coach Bubba Mims said. “So we’ve just got to keep our nose to the grind and keep plugging.”

Sharkey-Issaquena has stumbled lately, with two straight losses after a 5-0 start. The Confederates are still alive for the postseason, however, thanks to an early win over PCA and their Oct. 17 game against Briarfield.

If SIA wins its last two games, against Briarfield and Greenville Christian, and Tallulah loses to Humphreys and Briarfield, then the Confederates will be in the playoffs for the first time since 1991. A loss to Briarfield would dash SIA’s postseason hopes, regardless of the outcome against Greenville Christian in the season finale. SIA lost to Tallulah, and would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker to the Trojans.

Deer Creek (5-2, 3-2) is still alive, but just barely. Deer Creek’s only remaining conference game is against PCA on Oct. 17, and the Warriors will lose tiebreakers against Briarfield and Tallulah. To reach the postseason, Deer Creek must beat PCA, Briarfield must win its last two games, and Tallulah has to lose its last two.

Humphreys, meanwhile, must hope for a series of events to fall into place. The Rebels must win their last two games, against Tallulah and PCA; have PCA beat Deer Creek and Briarfield beat Tallulah; and still hope SIA loses its last two games.

All of that would create a jumbled four-way tie that still may not be enough to put Humphreys into the playoffs. But in this wild, wacky season, anything seems possible.