RISON - Rison Coach Chris Vereen will be looking to shore up some ball security in preparation for the playoffs this Thursday night when his Wildcats host the Barton Bears for the regular season finale at George Walker Field of Champions.Kickoff is at 7 p.m. with Senior Night activities scheduled to start at 6:40 p.m. In addition, players from the 1984 and 1994 state runner-up football teams are also invited to serve as honorary captains for the pre-game coin toss. Those wanting to participate are asked to be on the sidelines by 6:50 p.m.The game was originally scheduled for Friday night a decision was made Monday to move it to Thursday instead. Vereen said he and the staff intend to use the open Friday night to scout possible playoff opponents.Currently, the Wildcats are penciled in as the no. 2 seed from the 8-3A conference. However, there is a chance they could still wind up as the 8-3A champions if, as Vereen explains it, Rison beats Barton by 13 points and McGehee upsets Fordyce by 10. In such a scenario, there would be a three-way tie for first in the conference with the ‘Cats taking the no. 1 seed by virtue of the tie-breaker point system. Rison has the head-to-head tiebreaker with McGehee by virtue of its 33-20 win over the Owls.Should the Wildcats remain as the no. 2 seed from the 8-3A, they would host the fourth seed from the 3-3A conference in the first round next Friday, Nov. 15. Currently, Walnut Ridge and Hoxie are tied for that position and are schedule to play on another this week. Rison suffered its first loss of the season last week in a down-to-the-wire battle with rival Fordyce, but Vereen said the setback may have actually bolstered the Wildcats’ confidence.“The kids were fine,” he said about the players’ attitudes as they came in for practice on Monday. “I honestly think it gave them more confidence knowing they went toe-for-toe with them for the entire game, and frankly should...
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