Organized Chaos

Five area teams are holding out hopes for a state championship. Their respective quests begin on Friday, with all but Arnold on the road.

The playoffs open on Friday.

Graceville, Port St. Joe, Marianna and Bozeman must travel. Each faces stiff challenges. Heck, even Arnold could be in for a battle.

Two teams, Port St. Joe and Marianna, have to play top-ranked teams in their classification. The other three could be considered favorites or at least even with opponents.

I make it a rule not to predict the outcome of the game I cover. It causes too many problems, plus it makes me look biased, which is the last thing I want to do.

So, I will not predict the Arnold-Wakulla game.

Here goes with the picks. Feel free to add your own:

Port St. Joe at Lafayette

The Tiger Sharks draw a solid Lafayette team that returns a nucleus from the one that beat Port St. Joe in last year’s playoffs. The Hornets’ defense has been extremely good, holding opponents to 11 points per game. They also have four shutouts.

PSJ is no stranger to low-scoring playoff games. It has won 2-0 and 3-2 decisions since I’ve been on staff. This will be no different, but Lafayette is too tough.

The pick: Lafayette, 17-10.

Marianna at Madison County

Marianna’s Bradley Battles is one of the state’s best running backs. He willed the Bulldogs to a win over Tallahassee Florida High, one of the better teams on their schedule.

But this is Madison County, the defending state champions. There’s talent everywhere. Two or three Bradley Battles wouldn’t make much of a difference.

The pick: Madison County, 40-14

Graceville at Jacksonville Eagle’s View

These teams met last year, with J.J. Laster leading the Tigers to a 58-34 win. Both of these teams have showed they can score again this season. Graceville has the experience of winning on the road against Eagle’s View.

You can expect another high-scoring affair here.

The pick: Graceville, 35-31

Bozeman at South Walton

This is a rematch of a September game played in Sand Hills. Bozeman had a 13-0 lead, but South Walton rallied and was leading 28-21 with less than three minutes to play.

The Bucks drove the field and scored. Coach Loren Tillman decided prior to the drive to go for 2 and the win, but the Bucks came up short and lost 28-27.

This was an early game where Bozeman was still trying to find its legs after losing some close games and having to deal with suspensions stemming from some blowups against Baker. South Walton is a good team and this will be close again.

The key will be if South Walton can contain a Bozeman running game that has a new star, Tyler Grier, to go along with holdover Mason Bennett.

The pick: Bozeman, 21-20

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