Year after year, two rival teams in Pearl River County duke it out on the gridiron in their last game of the regular season. Although not much is on the line for Pearl River Central High School, they could impact how the Picayune Maroon Tide move into the 2016 MHSSA 5A Football Championship playoffs.

As of now, the Maroon Tide are 9-1 overall, 5-1 in the 4-5A District, and are ranked as a top 10 team in Mississippi, according to an Associated Press poll.

Picayune is currently in a three-way tie with Stone County and Hattiesburg high schools for first place in the division. However, Stone and Hattiesburg play Friday night, which could either help or hurt the Tide’s ranking in the playoffs.

If Stone County beats Hattiesburg—and Picayune beats PRC—the Tomcats would have the No.1 seed and Picayune would be No. 2 out of the 4-5A District. Conversely, if Hattiesburg beats Stone County, then Picayune would be No. 1, Hattiesburg No. 2, Stone No. 3 and Pascagoula No. 4. Pascagoula is still fighting for its bottom seed in the 4-5A district as they take on Gautier this Friday. The winner of that game will most likely move on to the playoffs.

PRC comes into Friday’s game with nothing to lose, which can be dangerous considering its rivalry with Picayune.

Last season, the Blue Devils took advantage of an unusual year for the Tide, beating Picayune 41-14. After that loss, the Maroon Tide went on to lose in the first round of playoffs 58-28 against Wayne County High School. The Blue Devils would suffer the same fate in the second round, losing to Wayne County—the 2015 5A State Champions—37-13.

Picayune’s running back Josh Littles gave the Tide a scare late in the regular season, sitting out one game because of a knee injury. However, Littles was active against Pascagoula last week and looked like his normal self, running for 176 yards and a touchdown.

Despite missing one game, Littles is ranked second in rushing yards in the 4-5A District, with 1,728 yards and ranked third in touchdowns, 20, this season.

Lately, it has been Picayune’s defense that has been the deciding factor. The Tide’s Rashard Johnson leads the district with the most sacks, eight, with one more game to play.

The Blue Devils have a lot of weapons of its own, including quarterback Wyatt Davis who has the district’s third highest total passing yards with 1,726 yards this season. Davis’ favorite target, Diante Lenoir has 666 receiving yards, third highest in the district, 755 rushing yards, fifth highest, has been responsible for 100 points this season, fourth highest in the district, and has 16 total touchdowns, which is fifth highest in the district.

Although the Blue Devils have nothing to lose, they still have a lot to prove, and beating the 9-1 Maroon Tide would translate to good vibes through the offseason in hopes to having a better season in 2017.

The rivalry will take place in Carriere this Friday at 7 p.m.