The playoff participants are settled in Regions 7-4A and 4-3A.

Who and where they’ll play in the first round is not.

Both regions will have mini-tournaments to decide their playoff seeding on Friday night. In Region 7-4A, North Pike plays South Pike for first place, while Port Gibson (6-4, 2-2 in region play) and Lawrence County (5-5, 3-1) battle for third.

Port Gibson’s chance to earn a home playoff game ended when it lost 26-20 to South Pike last week. The main goal now for the Blue Waves is avoiding a trip to the coast to face the Region 8-4A champion — either St. Stanislaus (7-2), No. 5 Purvis (8-1) or Forrest AHS (6-3).

In Region 4-3A, Leflore County has wrapped up the top seed and Riverside is fourth. South Delta (7-3, 3-1) and Leland (7-3, 2-2)will meet Friday night in Leland to determine the Nos. 2 and 3 spots, and the outcome is crucial to both teams’ hopes of advancing beyond the first round.

The winner will have a home game next week against either Palmer or Ruleville Central, both of whom have a record around .500. The loser hits the road to play East Side (9-1).

Hinds AHS at Loyd Star

Hinds AHS (1-8, 0-4 Region 6-2A) wraps up a disappointing season when it faces Loyd Star (3-6, 2-2) in the season finale on Friday.

After a competitive start to the season, Hinds has fallen on hard times in recent weeks. It has been outscored 116-28 in its last three games as injuries, depth and a lack of playmakers have taken their toll.

Hinds coach Michael Fields was hopeful that this year’s growing pains — as well as an expected move to Class 1A — will help his program in the future.

“We’ve had some growing pains. We had to work on fundamentals and we’ve battled some injuries. Hopefully, with a good offseason program we can get that record reversed,” Hinds coach Michael Fields said. “We’re only losing about four kids. Next year will be a little more stable.”

MAIS

Amite at Central Hinds

Central Hinds (9-1, 2-1 District 4-AA) figures to get a bigger challenge from itself this week than it will from visting Amite (1-9, 0-3).

Central Hinds has already secured a berth in the Class AA playoffs — it faces River Oaks in the first round next week — and is coming off a lopsided 52-14 win over rival Porters Chapel. Keeping the momentum going and staying healthy are as big of goals as beating struggling Amite.

“They’re down to about 14 kids and not very strong,” Central Hinds coach Todd Montgomery said of Amite. “I’d like to have a little tougher ballgame, to be honest. But we at least can execute some things and work on some things.”

SIA at Strider

Sharkey-Issaquena (1-9) wraps up another long season when it takes on Strider (0-9) in the season finale. This will mark the fourth straight season in which SIA has won two or fewer games. Since the start of the 2007 season the Confederates have a record of 4-38.

Strider, once one of the MAIS’ best programs, is just 1-18 over the last two seasons.

8-man football

Briarfield at Mt. Salus

Briarfield (6-3) will tune up for the playoffs by traveling to Clinton to face winless Mt. Salus (0-9). Briarfield has already clinched a spot in the eight-man playoffs, and will face Central Academy in the first round next week.

Tailback Fuad Ahmed will look continue his tremendous season. The senior has rushed for 2,428 yards and 35 touchdowns. Backfield mate Matt Dennis will also try for a milestone on Friday. He needs just 56 yards to go over 1,000 for the year.

LHSAA

Madison Parish at Richwood

The Jaguars’ road tour comes to an end at Richwood in Monroe on Friday.

The Rams (3-5, 1-1) need the win in order to stay alive in the playoff hunt. One of their three wins came in Vicksburg, when they beat the Gators 34-7.

Madison Parish’s playoff hopes ended with last week’s 14-8 loss at Caldwell Parish. The Jaguars are now 1-7 overall and 0-3 in district play.