Poteet did not end the season the way it had hoped last week.

The Pirates watched a two-touchdown lead disappear in the second half as crosstown rival West Mesquite scored 28 unanswered points to post a 45-31 victory.

There is no time to dwell on the setback, though, as Poteet (8-2) will be back on the field on Friday for a Class 4A Division II bi-district playoff game against Little Elm (5-5) at 7 p.m. at Carrollton's Standridge Stadium.

"They have bounced back well (in practice), but I think it is easy to get refocused at this time of the year with the playoffs ahead," Poteet head coach Randy Jackson said. "We wanted to go into the playoffs with momentum, but it didn't happen, so we move forward."

The Pirates had been roaring down the stretch, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 163-21 in the three games leading up to last week.

There was a chance that in addition to bragging rights, there would be playoff seeding on the line on Friday, but that was not the case after Forney defeated Carrollton Newman Smith on Thursday, thereby finalizing the 10-4A postseason field.

But even with nothing to play for as far as the playoffs were concerned, neither team held anything back and that could pay off for both in the upcoming weeks.

"We didn't take anything out of the game plan, anytime you have an intra-city rivalry game, both teams want to win, so that (intensity) takes care of itself and it was a hard-fought game," Jackson said. "You are better off going in with a tough challenge, which West Mesquite always is, so it was good to get that playoff-type experience going forward."

This area has a number of solid dual-threat quarterbacks and Poteet's Tanner Ramsey has been near the top of the list. The senior has completed 66 percent of his pass for 2,126 yard and 22 touchdowns, with 511 yards and 12 scores on the ground.

Ramsey has plenty of talent around him. James Swindle and Jaylon Smith bring two different styles of running to the ground game.

The Pirates have a deep receiving corps, led by Rodney Douglas and Verkedric Vaughns, who are also both dangerous in the run game. Buck Rodges has been a home run threat, averaging better than 22 yards per receptions and scoring nine times in 22 catches.

The Poteet defense is giving up only 16.4 points per game, but will be facing a different challenge than it has seen all year.

Little Elm is as close to a one-man show as it gets with running back Ke'aun Kinner, who is averaging a staggering 269 yards per game on the ground. Kinner rushed for 437 yards in a game early in the season, had 57 carries two weeks ago and is averaging nearly eight yards per attempt to go along with 26 touchdowns.

The Lobos have needed every bit of that production, especially late in the year when they needed to win their final two games to make the playoffs.

Little Elm has not been able to generate any offense outside of Kinner, passing for only 298 yards the entire season.

Poteet, therefore, knows what it needs to do to slow the Lobos down, but the challenge is doing it, as Little Elm has scored at least 35 points in each of its five victories.

"They have a big offensive line and a great running back. They are one-dimensional, but it is an excellent dimension," Jackson said. "He's had a target on his chest all season and even when defenses know he is going to get the ball, it has still been difficult to slow him down."

The Pirates have been waiting for this week for a year. After making its memorable run to the Class 4A state semifinals two years ago, they were edged out of the playoffs by a tiebreaker last season.

But while Poteet has goals of duplicating the run of 2010, they also understand they can't look ahead, especially when facing a player that can single-handedly alter the course of a game.

"It will be big to get some three-and-outs and keep their offense off the field. They are a hot team and a scary team," Jackson said. "But we have a lot of confidence in our offense, too, and we feel our defense will be ready for the challenge, so it should be a good game."

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...