The scenario is real simple for the J.Z. George football team — win and the Jaguars are in the playoffs, lose and it’s on to next year.
The Jaguars hit the road to face Sebastopol High School in a Region 4-2A contest that will determine the fourth team from the district for the State 2A playoffs. The game will be played at 7 p.m. Thursday in Sebastopol.
The Jaguars are only 2-6 overall and 0-3 in the region. The Bobcats are 7-3 overall and 1-2 in the region. If J.Z. George wins, it has the head-to-head tiebreaker and would be in as the No. 4 seed from the district. If Sebastopol wins, it will either finish fourth or possibly be in a three-way tie for second place with Union and Eupora if Union loses to Philadelphia. Union and Philadelphia tangle Thursday night to determine the first-place team from the region.
“We control our own destiny, it’s that simple,” said J.Z. George coach Dustin Alford. “No matter how bad we have played at times this season, we have something to play for Thursday night. It has the kids excited and pumped up. To know they can be in the playoffs with a win has them excited to play this week.”
It will be a tough challenge for the Jaguars. The Bobcats are coming off a 54-36 win over Union last week for their first region win. After getting to 6-1, they dropped back-to-back games to region foes Philadelphia (68-45) and Eupora (22-14) the previous two weeks.
“We don’t need it to get into a high-scoring affair,” said Alford. “We had an open date last week, so it gave us time to put our game plan and prepare our defense for them. It’s a short week playing on Thursday, so the open date came at a good time.
“Our young kids are stepping up this week. They are excited about the future of this program and the direction we are headed.”
