Rison, All 8-3A Teams Still Have Shot at Playoffs Entering Week

RISON - Just how crazy is the 8-3A football conference this season? Consider this - all eight teams still have a mathematical chance to make the playoffs entering the final week of the regular season."I bet you there is not another conference in the state where all eight teams are still eligible in Week 10," said Rison Coach Chris Vereen.While all eight teams are still mathematically in the mix, certain dominoes will have to fall for some of those teams to earn one of the five playoff bids from the8-3A, and that includes Rison.Based on his calculations, Vereen said the Wildcats can make the playoffs if Palestine Wheatley beats Lake Village on Thursday night, and Rison then knocks off Barton on the road Friday night. If Lake Village wins, then Barton would have to beat Rison to make the playoffs."By the time we play Friday night, we will know who will have to win," Vereen said.Heading into the final week, Fordyce leads the conference with a 5-1 record while McGehee and Dumas are a game back at 42 (McGehee owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Dumas). Drew Central sits in fourth at 3-3 followed by a four-way tie for fifth with Rison, Barton, Lake Village and Palestine-Wheatley all sitting at 2-4.Looking back, Vereen said if his Wildcats could have pulled off a win in one of those one-score conference losses, they could have very well been in the mix for a conference championship. Those three losses included a 40-34 setback at Dumas when the Bobcats got a late turnover and then scored on the last play of the game; a 30-24 loss to McGehee after the Wildcats fumbled it away in the second overtime; and then the six-point loss to league-leading Fordyce last week.Turnovers played a large role in most of those losses, but the 'Cats did not put a ball on the ground against a rugged Fordyce defense last week. Vereen said they will need to be just as clean this week to have a chance against the Barton Bears.Barton seems...