The Parklane Pioneers (3-3) travel Friday to Ridgeland to take on the Madison Ridgeland Academy Patriots (4-2), and either the old adage that things happen in threes or three times a charm will be tagged to the Pioneers after Friday night.
The Pioneers have played on the road twice this year, losing both contests. Will this be the week to break that streak? Or will the Pioneers lose their third straight road game?
The past two meetings between these schools have been nothing if not close. MRA won both by a combined four points. Not only have they been close games, but they also were high-scoring affairs as well with MRA winning 36-33 two years ago and 27-26 last year.
If you ask head coach Charlie Newlon, he expects more of the same on Friday.
“For some reason, this game is always close and a hard-fought game,” Newlon said. “We really should have won the last two meetings but we just did not execute when we needed to.”
Offensively, the Patriots will bring an experienced group that has reeled off four straight wins since starting the year 0-2.
“This MRA team has gotten better and better each week,” Newlon said. “They are primarily a running team that runs their offense through their fine tailback Brandon Self. But you cannot fall asleep because they are very good with their play action passing game.”
If this game is going to live up to expectations the Pioneers must continue to run the ball with the same effectiveness they have for most of this year. They also need a solid performance from Chance Schmidt, Dane Hogan and the rest of the Pioneer offense against what Newlon describes as a stingy Patriot defense.
“MRA is very good and fundamentally sound on the defensive side of the ball,” Newlon said. “They run a base 4-3 defense but their line moves a lot in pre-snap and can cause trouble with blocking assignments and disrupt an offense.”
Going on the road is never easy, but Newlon is looking forward to it this week.
“We normally play better on the road and that trip gives you time to focus on what is going on,” Newlon said. “We should have as many fans at this game as the home team and that is a big plus for us on the road.”
Hopefully, he said, that focus and support on the road will help accomplish three things: help avoid a third road loss of the season, help avoid a third consecutive loss to the Patriots and put the Pioneers in position to control their own playoff fate.
Newlon hopes the third time is a charm come Friday night.
“As I said before, we just did not make the plays to win the last two games against this team,” Newlon said. “Hopefully we will make the plays this time to come away with the win.”
