Bulloch Academy’s biggest rival invades the Westside Road fortress tonight, bent on spoiling both Senior Night and post-season plans.
    Keith Wasson brings his Pinewood Christian Academy Patriots into Gator Alley for the 26th meeting of the gridiron teams. Although PCA holds a 17-8 advantage in the series, the Gators have won the last two meetings by large margins.
    “I don’t feel like we have to do too much to get the boys up for this game,” said BA head coach Ronnie Hodges. “There is no doubt that they are focused as well.”
    Not only is it the final home game for the 13 senior football players and five senior cheerleaders, the contest has state playoff ramifications.
    Both are tied for third in the Region 1-AAA standings. The loser gets the fourth seed and will have to face the region champion from Region 2-AAA next week in the first round of the playoffs. The winner will claim the third seed and will take on the second-place team.
    Currently, the Heritage School of Newnan, Stratford Academy of Macon and Trinity Christian School of Sharpsburg tied at 3-1 in the Region 2-AAA standings. Tattnall Square of Macon is 2-2 while Mount de Sales, also of Macon, is 1-3. The playoff picture should be clear after tonight’s matchups (Heritage vs. Trinity, Tattnall Square vs. Mount de Sales, Stratford vs. Westminister). 
    But Hodges wants his team to focus on tonight’s nemesis.
    “Coach Wasson does a great job,” said Hodges. “They are well disciplined and fundamentally sound. They have a good nucleus returning from last year’s team on both the line and the backfield. We’ve got to play one of our best ball games to have a chance to win.”
    Pinewood is a run-oriented team and has accumulated 1,734 yards on the ground.
    Senior running back Ethan Kumpula has 985 yards and seven scores while junior quarterback Dalton Johnson has 746 and seven TDs. The Johnson-Kumpula show continues in both the passing game as well. Johnson has completed 50 passes for 572 yards and five scores. Kumpula has 15 receptions.
    “They are two fine football players,” said Hodges. “Our job is to contain them because we’re not going to stop them.”
    Charged with this task will be an aggressive and stingy BA defense led by senior defensive end Jarret Humphries (62 solo tackles, 41 assists and six sacks), sophomore defensive tackle Andrew Howell (49, 44) and junior linebacker Zach Sapp (47, 42). Other leaders include senior linebacker Loy Waters (39, 24), senior defensive tackle Asa Johnson (33, 12) and senior cornerback Harrison Averitt (32, 11).
    The Patriots have allowed 1,813 yards rushing, 735 yards passing and 209 points and Bulloch’s deceptive option attack plans to make those numbers increase.
    Quarterback Waters, tailback Averitt, junior fullback Matt Sheppard and senior wingback Bailey Smith lead an offense which has gained 2,987 total yards and scored 257 points. Last week, Averitt topped the 1,000-yard mark with a 118-yard performance in BA’s 31-6 win over Southland Academy.
    But the unsung heroes of the offense are the Gator linemen.
    Led by line coach Brandavious Mann, this group of undersized, overachievers consists of senior Johnson at center, sophomore Jake Hagan at guard, sophomore Joshua Bishop at tackle, senior Will Lawson at guard and senior Mitchell Smith at tackle who has stepped in for the injured junior Connor Fordham. Junior Reed Salter is the sixth man.
    “Everyone we have faced has been bigger than us and we have had to overcompensate for it,” said Hodges. “Sometimes it has worked, sometimes it hasn’t. These guys have done tremendous jobs. Coach Mann has done a great job with them.”