ACCS Rebels to play in first home playoff game in 31 years

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The Adams County Christian School football team practices Tuesday afternoon. This is the first year ACCS has won a district title in 31 years. The team is preparing for their first home playoff game Friday against Central Hinds. (BRITTNEY LOHMILLER | THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

The Adams County Christian School football team practices Tuesday afternoon. This is the first year ACCS has won a district title in 31 years. The team is preparing for their first home playoff game Friday against Central Hinds. (BRITTNEY LOHMILLER | THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

NATCHEZ — Adams County Christian School has worked hard to make history, winning its first district championship and home playoff berth in 31 years.

As the Rebels (9-1), get a rematch against Central Hinds Academy after 49-28 victory against them just two weeks ago, senior Kaleb Watts said it’ll be even harder to repeat history.

“We got beat against Centreville (Academy), so if Centreville came in here again, we’d try even harder to beat them,” Watts said. “So I’m expecting them to come in even harder to try to beat us.”

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With all the excitement surrounding ACCS and its journey to the playoffs, Watts and head coach David King said they understand that it is either win or go home from this point on.

“Everybody is 0-0 now,” King said. “This comes down to will power and who’s going to make the fewest mistakes. Anybody who wants it worse will win these playoff games.”

Senior linebacker Brandt Pugh inherited the same mentality from King.

“You just have to look at every game like it’s the state championship game,” Pugh said. “(For the seniors) it could be the last game we ever play.”

King said he’s grateful to be in a situation where they can relax and focus on correcting their mistakes.

“We’re fairly healthy and the game plans have been in,” King said. “We’ve seen them before, and it’s time to start ironing out the mistakes we made when we first played them.

“Around this time of the year, you scale back a lot. You don’t push them as much as you did.”

Though it’s been so long since the Rebels have had the upper hand going into playoffs, Pugh said he expected nothing less from his team this season.

“I definitely saw this happening,” Pugh said. “We have talent everywhere. We have two really good quarterbacks, awesome receivers and some of the best linebackers we ever had.”

King said the offensive and defensive line would play a big part in the Rebels’ playoff push.

“Our offensive and defensive lines got pushed around a little bit the last time we played them,” King said.

Watts, a lineman, said he and his teammates have been focusing on getting better so they will not be the weakest link.

“I tell them to stay focused and try to be as disciplined as we can going into this,” he said.

Watts said he and several of his teammates have an extra incentive to play their best Friday night.

“My family comes to just about every game, but this game will be different,” he said.

Pugh said he thinks the defense has to step up just as much after having trouble with Central Hinds’ running game.

“They have a very good running back, and they can definitely run the ball well,” Pugh said. “But we changed our defense up so we’re ready.”

If the Rebels can pull out another win against Central Hinds, they can expect to host another playoff game the following week as well, and King said it would be the perfect scenario.

The Rebels host Central Hinds in the Class AA state playoffs at 7 p.m. Friday.