Porter’s Chapel looks to stay hot against Columbus Christian
Published 3:00 pm Thursday, October 10, 2024
There are quite a few unflattering ways to describe Porter’s Chapel Academy’s football game against Columbus Christian on Friday.
Glorified scrimmage. Filler game. Nothingburger.
PCA coach Blake Purvis draws the line, though, at meaningless.
“It’s still a game. Regardless of whether it really has power point implications or not, there’s still momentum to gain out of it. There’s still work to be done and at this point of the season you want to build as much momentum as you can going into the playoffs,” Purvis said. “We’ve won three in a row, and six in a row going into the playoffs would be a good momentum boost going down the stretch.”
PCA (5-3) and Columbus Christian (3-4) playing each other is the result of a sequence of events that started in the summer. Sharkey-Issaquena Academy canceled its season at the same time Columbus was dropping from the MAIS’ 11-man division to 8-man.
SIA’s opponents — which included Porter’s Chapel — suddenly needed to fill open dates at the same time Columbus needed opponents, so Columbus stepped in and assumed most of SIA’s schedule.
Since Columbus moved down in the second year of the MAIS’ realignment cycle, however, it is considered an independent team. Because of that, PCA will not receive any power points — which help determine playoff berths and seeding — from the game.
For PCA, that makes Friday’s match-up all about staying hot and turning a three-game winning streak into four as it heads toward the postseason. Although the temptation might exist to rest some players or ease off, Purvis said he’s treating it as just as important a game as any other.
“There’s some things we might need to work on and get better at going down the stretch that we may try to do, and look at some things these next couple weeks. But the goal is still to do what you’ve got to do to win the game and then go from there,” Purvis said. “We’re in a good rhythm and you don’t want to disrupt that a whole lot. But if the opportunity presents itself to get some other guys some experience and some reps, then certainly we’ll do that.”
PCA’s last two regular-season games are at Wilkinson County Christian Academy on Oct. 18 and home against Prairie View Academy on Oct. 25. The latter will be for the District 3-2A championship.
Even with just three games left, the Eagles have a number of playoff scenarios ahead of them. They could be as high as the No. 3 seed in the Class 2A bracket if they win the district title, or as low as 9 or 10 if they go in as a wild card.
Purvis said he’s just focused on staying hot and winning, and letting it all shake out how it will.
“Any time you’re in the conversation it’s fun. But it’s a Rubik’s Cube. It could go a bunch of different ways with some of these match-ups down the stretch,” he said. “It’s fun to look at, but the funnest part is we’re still in a position to control our own destiny.”
FRIDAY’S AREA GAMES
All games start at 7 p.m.
Columbus Christian at Porter’s Chapel (Radio: 104.5 FM)
Neshoba Central at Vicksburg (Radio: 107.7 FM)
Columbia Academy at St. Aloysius (Radio: 101.3 FM)
Tallulah Academy at Prentiss Christian
Wesson at Port Gibson
Madison Parish at Rayville