This time of year Missouri out-state football head coaches walk a fine line when they take on rarely-seen in-state opposition with big-time reputations in the playoffs.
That’s the situation that the Rolla High School football team’s coaching staff has been in the past few days in preparing for the Parkway North Vikings in tonight’s Missouri Class 5 Sectionals.
Yes, the Parkway North Vikings are good. Real good. They’re ranked No. 4 in the latest state poll and their only loss of the season was by a single touchdown to the state’s No. 1-ranked team. Athletically they’ll be as good as anyone the Rolla Bulldogs have played this fall.
But...the Bulldogs are pretty good, too. The Vikings put their pads on the same way the Bulldogs do.
And, as the Waynesville Tigers proved a few times during their 2007 state-championship run, a good Ozark Conference team can beat a good city team.
The Bulldogs get their chance to prove that again tonight.
Rolla (10-1) travels to the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur tonight to take on Parkway North (8-1) in Class 5 Sectional action (7 p.m. kickoff).
The winner of the Rolla-Parkway North game will meet the Timberland (9-1)/Parkway Central (9-2) winner in Class 5 Quarterfinal play at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14. If Rolla wins tonight it will host the quarterfinal game Saturday at Lions Memorial Field.
Rolla advanced to the sectional round by beating Washington 28-21 last Wednesday in regional play at Washington. Parkway North won its district championship and got a first-round playoff bye.
