In the last week of the Mississippi High School Football 5A regular season, Pearl River Central is just one win away from joining Picayune in the playoffs, while Poplarville prepares to host the first round of the 4A playoffs this Friday night.

There’s also a decent chance Picayune and Pearl River could see each other in the first round.

PRC travels to Brookhaven to play the Panthers in a “win or go home” match-up Friday night. The loser is eliminated from the playoffs, and the winner will prepare to hit the road next week for a first round match-up.

If the Blue Devils do win, they will either be a third or fourth seed in Region 3 depending on the result of the Laurel game. Laurel will clinch the division if they defeat West Jones, but if they lose and PRC wins, they will fall to the fourth seed with PRC’s head-to-head victory earlier this year serving as the tiebreaker.

Picayune will travel to Wiggins looking to clinch the top seed in Region 4-5A. A win against Stone County will seal the division crown, but a loss guarantees the second seed as Pascagoula and Gautier are both 5-1 in division play and will play each other this Friday. Stone County is fighting for their playoff lives and can guarantee themselves the fourth seed with a win, but a loss will leave them depending on George County to beat East Central.

Picayune defeated PRC in a home game on Sept. 12 by the score of 19-14, but the two archrivals could see each other again next week in a playoff rematch.

If Picayune, Laurel and Pearl River Central all win their Friday night games, then PRC will travel to Picayune in Round 1 next weekend. Alternatively, a PRC win coupled with losses from Picayune and Laurel will also send the Blue Devils to Picayune since the second seed of Region 4 hosts the third seed of Region 3.

A PRC victory guarantees a first round road game against one of three teams: Picayune, Pascagoula or Gautier.

Picayune is guaranteed a home game in the first round of the playoffs regardless of whether they win or lose Friday.

Poplarville has already won their division and guaranteed a home match-up against the 6-5 Richland Rangers on Friday night at 7 p.m. A victory will send the Hornets to the second round of the playoffs on Nov. 14, where they would play the winner of the Quitman vs. Columbia game.