For the 15 senior football players that take the field this Friday night at Caldwell Peacock Stadium, the contest might represent the last time they ever get to don a JHHS football uniform. Then again it might not. How this group plays will have tremendous bearings on whether their high school career will continue or not. If that wasn’t enough incentive the fact that their opponent in what is shaping up as a “win your in” scenario regarding the playoffs that will begin next week is your arch rival Winnfield. You can’t ask for a better season finale than that. Talk about having your cake and eating it too. 

Win Or Go Home – Maybe! JHHS, which has a 3-6 record, is sitting at #29 in the non-select, Division IV power ratings. The 2022 playoff bracket allows for only 28 teams. A win against Winnfield, the 6th ranked team in Division III with a 7-2 mark looks like it would boost JHHS into the playoff picture. Most likely it would be only at the #28 spot as it doesn’t seem likely that JHHS would leapfrog West St. John, Lake Arthur and Elton, sittiing at #25-27 as all three are expected to win being that the three teams they play have a combined two wins. Varnado has a tough game theirselves having to face St. Martin Episcopal which is 8-1 on the year but is listed as a Class A school, which means they won’t get the same number of power points as JHHS would if they beat Winnfield. Even if both JHHS and Varnado lose the Tigers might slip in again because of JHHS playing a Class AA team and Varnado playing a Class A team. Confused? Hopefully JHHS makes it simple and pull off the upset over their arch rival. 

No better way to end the season! JHHS vs Winnfield. It’s one of the iconic rivalries in the LHSAA. According to records available the contest on Friday will mark the 95th time the two teams, who share the same mascot. will have played against each other. Were it not for the Covid Pandemic that caused the 2020 game to be cancelled this would be the 77th consecutive year that the two schools would have played. The all time series total is 49 wins for Winnfield, 43 wins for JHHS and 2 ties. The two have been in the same district 27 different years. Winnfield holds a lead in district games with a slim 14-13-0 margin.

Holding on to hope! There have been several times when one program came into the contest with a much better record than the other but went down to defeat. Another factor in JHHS”s favor is that the local Tigers hold a 26-20-1 record against Winnfield in games played at Caldwell-Peacock Stadium. The final factor attributing to the hope that JHHS can beat Winnfield is that certainly the Seniors on the squad want to go out in style and what better way than to beat your arch rival. 

Seniors being honored! Representiing the senior class of Tigers who will be recognized prior to the game are: Savantez PHillips, Cameron Leonard, OMarrion Jackson, Zion Gray, Ed’Tavious Drayton, Raynald Bolds, Logan Wiggins, David Johnson, Dominick Strickland, Austin Knotts, Kehlin Boston, Cartavious Waters, Joshua Tatum