Central visits district rival Panama for playoff berth

The Central Tigers are on the road tonight to take on the Panama Razorbacks in a critical matchup that will help determine District A-8 playoff rankings and dictate where the games will be played.

Central head coach Jeremy Thompson‚s team is traveling to Panama after a week off because Talihina was forced to cancel its entire season due to low participation this year. The off week was timed when the Tigers needed one to let their players have a week off to mend the bumps and bruises that accumulate at this stage of the season.

“I think that we‚re looking pretty good,” Thompson decided. “We‚ve had a few injuries, but for the most part, it came on a week that we were off and we were able to heal up a little bit. I really feel good about going into this week pretty healthy.”

Panama comes into tonight‚s game off a 62-0 shutout at the hands of top-ranked Gore last week. But don‚t let that fool you, because the Razorbacks are playing well with a 5-3 overall and 3-1 district record this season.

Central is in a similar position, coming off a 65-0 loss to Gore, which made the Tigers‚ record 2-2 in district play and 4-3 overall.

“A home berth opportunity is definitely still there, but there‚s lots of things that have to happen for us to do that. We‚re still concentrating week by week. Staying in control of everything that we can.

“Panama is a big game for both teams as far as playoffs go, like where you sit and where you‚re seeded. We‚re looking at different scenarios, and that goes all the way into Week 10.”

With their eyes on the prize, the Tigers are continuing to practice and getting better every week so they can be at their best and take care of business during the big games at the end of season.

“Panama has got a good, strong running game. They‚re heavy on the run, and use multiple backs in the backfield. All of them are good, strong runners, so we‚re definitely concentrated on stopping their run game and slowing that down,” Thompson said.

“We‚ve continued over the past few weeks to get better offensively, so I feel like we‚re going to be able to do what we do on offense. We‚ve got to execute and we can‚t turn it over, and if we do that, I really think we‚ll be in good shape.”

Panama has played well on both sides of the ball this year, but the Razorbacks were dealing with five starters out last week due to injuries. If they don‚t get some of them back before the game, the loss would affect their effectiveness.

“They like to keep the ball in their hands and keep the clock rolling. That‚s something that we‚ve got to do is get in there and shut the run game down,” Thompson said. “That‚s what they do best, so we‚ve got to stop that and take advantage of offensive opportunities.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.