Ever since they were eliminated from the District 3-AAA championship race a month ago, the Porter’s Chapel Academy Eagles have gotten to experience life on the bubble of the MAIS wild card race.

They’ve been in the 16-team field one week, out the next, and back again. They’re currently ranked 17th in the power points standings that set the bracket and determine seeding, but the good news is there’s still two weeks left to get back in before the final field is set.

The two-game mini-season begins Friday night with a long road trip to Minden, La., to take on Glenbrook Academy (3-5).

“It’s still one game at a time, same as it’s been since Week 5. We’ve taken care of two of the three weeks and we felt like we needed to be 4-1 in the last five to get in. We still have a chance to be 4-1,” PCA coach Blake Purvis said. “To be in a decent spot in the playoffs, our playoffs essentially start this week.”

PCA (4-4) got its one mulligan during the closing five-game stretch with a 49-0 loss to Central Hinds last week. The Eagles only ran 25 offensive plays and did not get a first down, so it was hardly surprising when Purvis said it wasn’t going to be a game he and his team dwelled on.

“We’ve tried to completely put it behind us and move on,” he said. “We made a few corrections, but other than that we moved on to Glenbrook (Monday).”

And, for this week at least, the Eagles are focusing solely on Glenbrook. They’ll host Park Place Christian in the season finale next week, which might end up being a play-in game for one of the last wild card spots in Class AAA.

The MAIS power points formula awards teams points for victories, with strength of schedule bonuses for beating higher-classification teams and victories by opponents. That ensures practically every game in the MAIS has some bearing on the playoff race and that many teams will be scoreboard watching next week.
This week, however, there are still so many possibilities that it’s too early to do it.

“With there being 23 teams you’ve got so many different combinations on everybody’s schedule that it’s hard to do,” Purvis said. “Your scoreboard watching is mainly with the teams on our schedule. Did our opponents help us this week? Once you get through this week, you get a clearer picture.”

The clearest picture for PCA is simply to win its last two games. That should allow the Eagles to collect enough power points to vault teams just above them. Even if it doesn’t they’ll at least finish with a winning record for the first time since 2008.

“We’ve got to go out and try to win the last two, and then go see what happens with everybody else,” Purvis said.

FRIDAY’S AREA GAMES
All games start at 7 p.m.
Porter’s Chapel at Glenbrook (Radio: 104.5 FM)
St. Aloysius at Hillcrest (Radio: 101.3 FM)
Ridgeland at Vicksburg (Radio: 1490 AM/107.7 FM)
Murrah at Warren Central (Radio: 105.5 FM)
Central Hinds at Park Place Christian
Briarfield Academy at Riverdale
Tallulah Academy at Christian Collegiate
Marvell Academy at Sharkey-Issaquena
Clinton at Northwest Rankin
Port Gibson at Franklin County

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