Porters Chapel ventures out of conference

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 10, 2003

[10/10/03]On paper, tonight’s game against Benton is meaningless for the Porters Chapel Academy Eagles.

Try telling PCA coach Bubba Mims that.

“It means a lot to us. We need to win it,” Mims said. “It’s another game in the win-loss column. We haven’t had enough W’s, so we want a win.”

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The non-conference game against Academy-AA Benton could have been a chance for PCA (3-4) to pick up valuable power points in its quest for a wild-card berth. Non-conference losses to Central Hinds and Presbyterian Christian have probably closed off that route to the postseason, however.

PCA is still very much alive for the playoffs, but must win its last two games to have a chance at finishing second in Conference 5-A. That leaves tonight’s game without any serious playoff implications for either the Eagles or Benton.

There is no wild-card berth in Academy-AA only the top two teams in each conference advance to the playoffs so the game against PCA is just for pride. There is plenty of that at stake, however.

PCA beat Benton 7-0 last season, and the Raiders would like nothing more than to gain some payback in their homecoming game.

“It’s homecoming, and I don’t think they’ve won a homecoming here in three or four years so they really want to win,” Benton coach Jeremy Lane Pattie said.

Both teams feature solid defenses, but the game could turn into an offensive showcase. Benton running back B.W. Beckwith is coming off a 172-yard, two-touchdown performance against Leake last week, while the Eagles have scored at least 19 points in each of their last three games.

Unfortunately for PCA, it has lost two of those games by a total of three points. The Eagles lost 21-19 to Presbyterian Christian two weeks ago, then dropped a 30-29 heartbreaker to Briarfield last week when a game-winning field goal attempt sailed wide with 10 seconds to play.

Mims was cautiously optimistic that the Eagles would be able to shake off the recent string of bad luck.

“If we were 6-1, I’d probably say so. But getting into the minds of 15 and 16 year old kids is hard,” Mims said. “Hopefully they’ve matured enough this season to know you’ve got to come every week ready to play.”