Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Conway has reason for playoff dreams despite its 4-6 season

The Conway Tigers have had a down year by their lofty standards, but they still may find themselves in the playoffs.

If the Tigers (4-6, 1-3 Region VI-AAAA) beat Carolina Forest and West Florence upsets South Florence on Friday, Conway would clinch the region's third and final automatic playoff spot, but as long as the Tigers win there is reason to believe they will still make the postseason.

"There is like eight games that us getting in depends on," Conway coach Chuck Jordan said. "But the likelihood is, if the teams win that we think are going to win, we would be in. Colleton County would have to beat Summerville, and Wando would have to beat Stratford for us to be out."

Upstart Carolina Forest is also playing for the postseason, needing a win over Conway and a South Florence victory to nab the third seed.

Twenty-five of the 32 Class AAAA playoff spots go to automatic qualifiers while the remaining seven earn entry based on a points system. That points system is the reason Jordan and his Tigers will be rooting for several of their regular-season opponents, including Socastee. The Braves are 5-5 heading into the Class AAA playoffs and a win would give them a winning record, a distinction that would hand Conway one more potentially crucial point toward the AAAA playoffs.

"A Socastee win would help us big time," Jordan said, "because even if we get in a win by them would help our seeding."

Jordan is the region's state representative and will attend a meeting of all the region reps in Columbia on Saturday when the points will be tabulated and the playoff pairings determined.

Stallions still fighting

South Columbus (N.C.) (4-6) is still fighting for a playoff berth, but it almost certainly needs a win this Friday against new conference rival West Brunswick for that to happen.

"Anybody that has four wins can possibly qualify," Stallions head coach Jake Fonvielle said. "I think if we win this week we have a pretty good chance to grab a final seed or something. We will just have to see how things shake out."

Fonvielle is in his first year as the South Columbus head coach and the program has had a lot of success in recent years, including a trip to the 2A state title game two seasons ago.

"We have high expectations, but we have had a chance to win every ballgame but one," Fonvielle said. "But for whatever reason it just hasn't worked out for us. A lot of that has to go along with the inexperience we have right now. The attitude is good and they are still working hard. They know if we can make the playoffs, that is a new season for us and everyone is 0-0."