Wilkinson County has outside playoff shot

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, October 27, 2009

WOODVILLE — After winning just one game the previous three seasons combined, the Wilkinson County Wildcats enter the final week of the 2009 season with a playoff pulse, even if it is an extremely faint one.

The Wildcats can finish fourth in Region 7-3A and make the playoffs with a victory over undefeated and No. 1 ranked Tylertown and a Hazlehurst loss to last place Amite County.

That scenario is extremely far fetched, but so is the fact that Wilkinson County even has an outside shot to make the playoffs one year after finishing 0-9.

“Any time you start the year off, you have playoff goals,” Wilkinson County coach Elbert Lyles said. “Our situation may have been a little different coming off an 0-9 season. We were hoping to make progress and get better week in and week out. We figured if we did that we’d have an outside chance to get into the playoffs.”

And Wilkinson County has done that thanks to commitment from the players, Lyles said.

“I think the kids have been more committed to the program as a whole (this season),” Lyles said. “We have kids who have been in the program for a while now and we have a pretty good s taff that we have put in place as far as teaching and coaching. So all this goes into making the squad better. Hopefully it is something that will carry on in the future.”

Wilkinson County (4-5, 1-3) defeated Amite County 9-6 last week to give themselves a chance at the playoffs, but they must defeat Tylertown (9-0, 4-0), which is coming off a 16-7 victory over Franklin County.

Lyles knows beating the No. 1 ranked Chiefs will be an extremely difficult task.

“They are basically a wing t (offensive) team and they execute it very well,” Lyles said. “They have great skill players and are aggressive defensively. We are just going to go in and try to make as few mistakes as possible. Our basic game plan is to not put ourselves in a position where they can take advantage of our mistakes.”