It’s been over a decade since the last time the Dallas County football team made the playoffs, which is why Thursday night’s game against Wilcox Central is so important.

The Hornets sit at 3-1 in class 5A, region 4 play and are within a victory or two of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2004.

A win Thursday will not lock up a playoff spot, but it’ll put the Hornets in great shape heading into their area finales the next two weeks against Calera and Demopolis. Depending on how the rest of the region fares over the next few weeks, four region wins may be enough to clinch a spot, but it’s not a given.

However, one thing is for sure.

A win over the Jaguars would assure the Hornets of having a lot to play for the rest of the season. There’s a chance that if Dallas County wins out, the Hornets could win the region in a tiebreaker or even outright.

“Three wins and depending on what happens with some other teams, we could win the area,” said Dallas County head coach Marty Smith. “These guys understand that, but they understand that before we can start worrying about Calera, before we can start worrying about Demopolis, we’ve got to take care of business with Wilcox.”

Wilcox will enter Thursday’s game hungry. The Jaguars have lost all six of their games this season and all of those defeats have come by double digits.

However, two of Wilcox’s closest defeats have come in the last three weeks, including a 48-22 loss to 5-1 Calera last week.

Smith said when he put on tape of the Jaguars, he sees a team that reminds him of his Hornets’ team from last season.

“They are better than their record states and because of that this game scares me to death,” Smith said. “They remind us so much of us last year. If you remember, in the second half of the season, we started putting everything together to get us into the position where we are at right now with this football program.”

Dating back to last season, Dallas County is 6-4 over its last 10 games. The first win of those 10 games was a 20-6 victory at Wilcox Central last season.

One of the main reasons for Dallas County’s turnaround is the Hornets’ defense. Dallas County has given up only 21 points in its last three games and has only allowed more than 14 points in a game once all season.

“To see these guys be able to taste some success, to have the opportunity to put themselves in this situation, it’s been exciting because they are understanding that if you work hard, good things will happen,” Smith said. “We can’t rest on our laurels, we can’t get the big head, we can’t start patting ourselves on the back.”

The game will kickoff Thursday at Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m.

 

Friday’s Other Games:

Ellwood Christian (3-3, 0-2) at Maplesville (5-1, 2-0)

Ellwood Christian lost a hard fought game against No. 4 Linden last week for its third consecutive loss. Unfortunately for the Eagles, it doesn’t get any easier this week as they travel to play at No. 1 Maplesville.

The Eagles’ offense has struggled the last three weeks, totaling only 12 points combined in those games after averaging 26.7 the first three games of the year. The Maplesville game is one of only two region games Ellwood has remaining this season.

The Eagles have to win one of the two in order to stay in the playoff hunt in class 1A, region 4. Maplesville defeated Ellwood 69-16 last season.

 

Keith (1-3, 1-5) at Marengo (4-2, 3-1)

Keith will look to turnaround its season Friday against Marengo County. The Bears looked unstoppable three weeks ago in a 58-6 win over Ellwood Christian, but have struggled to score to back-to-back losses to Selma and A.L. Johnson.

The Bears will face a Marengo County team that has won four of its last five games Friday and has averaged 35 points per game this season.

 

Selma (4-3, 1-3) at Bessemer City (4-2, 2-2)

Still relying on its defense, Selma has won two straight games over Keith and Brookwood to get back to .500 on the season. This week the Saints play a game they must win against Bessemer City in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Purple Tigers started the season 4-0 but have lost their last two games by one possession to Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa and McAdory.

Bessemer City defeated Selma 28-21 last season.

 

Southside (2-4, 0-3) at UMS-Wright (6-0, 3-0)

Southside had a bye week to help prepare for No. 1 UMS-Wright, which has shutout its last two opponents and only allowed 64 points the entire season.

The Panthers defeated Wilcox Central 42-8 in their last game, which gives the team some momentum going into this week.

UMS-Wright defeated Southside 49-16 last season.

 

Morgan Academy (3-3, 2-1) at Escambia Academy (4-3, 2-2)

Morgan Academy enters Friday night’s game against Escambia Academy playing its best football of the season and riding the momentum of two come-from-behind victories. If the Senators can win Friday, they’ll take another step towards the Alabama Independent School Association playoffs.

Escambia lost its last game at Monroe Academy, a team that also has defeated Morgan this year. Before that loss, Escambia had won four consecutive games.

Escambia won last season’s meeting 51-0.