With a record of 5-5 and 3-0 in district play, the McCracken County Mustangs have earned the right to host their first round Class 6A playoff game. Set for this Friday night at Marquette Stadium, the Mustangs will host Warren Central who comes in with a 3-7 record.
Despite a hiccup in their streak last week resulting in a 38-17 loss to Graves County, the Mustangs are playing some of their best football. Looking back on this time last season, after a loss to Graves to close out the season the Mustangs would win two straight in the playoffs to keep their season alive.
Much of that schedule from last season has been a talking point in the McCracken County locker room this time around.
“Anytime you ran catch that lightening in a bottle you want to redo it,” McCracken County head coach Tyler Brooks said about that stretch of play last season.
But, after the loss, the Mustangs realize they need to regroup and focus on the task at hand starting with Warren Central.
“We’re turning the page after last week and remembering everybody starts the playoffs 0-0,” Brooks said. “We have the privilege to host this playoff game and we’ve gotta come out ready to go.”
Travel is always a topic of discussion around playoff time and it’s no different in Class 6A, so saving the two-plus hour drives will be a big advantage for the Mustangs at least for this first week.
As for the Warren Central Dragons, they have a two hour and 20 minute drive to Marquette Stadium to take on the Mustangs as they look to win their first playoff game since 2013.
Unlike the Mustangs loss last week, the Dragons won last week, defeating Todd County Central 30-22, snapping a six-game losing skid for just their third win of the season.
Historically, the Mustangs and Dragons have met just twice before, in 2015 and 2016 where McCracken County came out victorious in both. Of course both teams have changed since then, but the Mustangs believe their changes have been for the better.
“We’ve done a good job offensively this season of really being a committee,” Brooks said. “Dawson Hayden has had flashes at times at running back, Landon Newman has been doing a great job as well as Kayden Wahl. And, we have six kids that have receiving touchdowns this season with Jude Lanier, Reed Brookshire, Dawson Hayden, Jakari Matchem, Davion Dunbar and Cooper Falconite.”
Coach Brooks says his junior quarterback Maddox O’Neal has done a great job balancing those guys and finding the right guys to make the right plays night in and night out.
As for their defense, the Mustangs have snagged 13 interceptions across nine different athletes as well as defenders including Cade Churchwell, Charlie Higdon and Jaxon Shackleford just to name a few, who have been stellar at stopping the ball and making the big plays.
The playoff journey begins Friday night at 7 p.m. at Marquette Stadium.