Pine is at home tonight, taking on West St. Mary in the opening round of the Class 2A state playoffs at 7 p.m.
The 13th-seeded Raiders went 6-4 in the regular season won their final regular season game, 20-6, over Pope John Paul II last week.
The winner will face either fourth-seeded Many (8-2) or No. 29 Ville Platte (3-7).
“This is why you play, to get in the postseason and make a run,” Pine coach Bradley Seal said.
This is the third football home playoff game in Pine’s history and the Raiders are 2-0 in the previous two.
Pine defeated Jonesboro-Hodge, 15-14, last year and St. Helena College & Career Academy, 28-20, in 2014.
Seal said that linebacker Zavier Elzie had a really good game last week.
“I think the second half of the season, he came on strong as one of our better defensive players. He’s had a couple of sacks and tackles for losses each week,” Seal said.
Pine scored three touchdowns last week.
Damarea Odom tallied a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
Jakyran Handy and Joey Seal posted a touchdown each in the win.
No. 20 West St. Mary, which is located in Baldwin, about 30 minutes from Morgan City, enters this week with a 4-6 record.
West St. Mary is coming off of a 20-14 loss to Ascension Episcopal last week.
“We’re looking at a nice-sized team,” said West St. Mary Clifton Armelin, referring to Pine. “They’ve got a couple of athletes, especially from the receiver standpoint. They’ve got a fullback that likes to pound the ball and a quarterback that distributes it well. One thing I noticed about them is that they’re big up front on both sides of the ball.
“They are going impose a challenge to stop their offense. We’ve faced that type of offense before and one thing you have to do is protect the gaps and be disciplined.”
Taylun Druilhet is the team’s quarterback.
Desmon Washington is the running back with Dondre Johnson at tight end and Raylon Richard at receiver.
The top defenders include linebacker KyJuan Biggles and tackle Treyvionn Biggles.