Wilkinson County (3-6, 1-3) at Forest (8-3, 4-0)

WOODVILLE — The Wilkinson County High School Wildcats were already assured of a playoff berth and did not play last Friday night. The only thing they had to wait on was the outcome of the Franklin County and Jefferson County game.

With Franklin County’s big win, that put Wilkinson County as Region 7-3A’s No. 4 seed as the Wildcats will travel to Forest to take on the Region 5-3A champion Forest Bearcats at 7 p.m. Friday.

Wilkinson County head coach Kenneth Brown didn’t comment on his team being the No. 4 seed even though the Wildcats beat Franklin County 15-13 on Sept. 29.

“The main thing is that we made the playoffs. We knew it was going to be interesting because of youth,” Brown said. “But we found a way to get in. We got the No. 4 seed and we get to play Forest. We feel like we have a chance to pull off the upset even though they’re the (Region 5-3A) No. 1 seed.”

Similar to Region 5-3A, a point-differential tiebreaker in Region 7-3A was needed to determine the No. 3 and No. 4 seed and which team would be left out of the playoffs between the Bulldogs, the Wildcats and the Tigers.

Forest enters the playoffs having won six of its last seven games, including a 37-8 win at Kemper County last week.

“They’ve got pretty good size, especially down front. They have two players we have to watch for — No. 6 (Diwun Black), who’s a good cornerback and their quarterback (junior Jacob Brooks, No. 14) looks pretty good. He looks like a seasoned player,” Brown said. “If we can overcome their size, I like our chances.”

Black, a 6-4, 210-pound junior, has 53 total tackles, three of them for a loss, one interception, two passes defensed, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. Brooks has thrown for 508 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. He is also the team’s leading rusher with 653 yards and six touchdowns.

“They play a lot of zone. So we’ve got to attack their zone defense,” Brown said. “Hopefully our line can create some holes for our backs. Hopefully our defense can create some turnovers to put ourselves in position to win the game.”

Brown said in order for the Wildcats to pull off the upset, they must take care of the football.

“I feel like we can go up there and win a ball game. If we take care of our own business, we feel like we can play with anyone,” Brown said. “We have to eliminate mistakes — not beat ourselves.”