West Limestone’s journey to a third consecutive playoff begins tonight when the Wildcats host Danville. A win puts West right in the thick of the playoff race while a loss would deal a devastating blow to those hopes.

“This is a must-win game for us in region play for us to advance on (to the playoffs),” West Limestone coach Jordan Cantrell said. “This is the first step. We have got to have this region win.”

After a 44-7 drubbing by Class 4A, No. 3-ranked Rogers, West Limestone has looked much better the last two games. It took a last-minute touchdown for No. 8-ranked Wilson to escape with a 15-11 victory over the Wildcats while West had no problems defeating Elkmont 42-14 last week in a non-region game.

Cantrell said it’s critical his team keeps that momentum going in order to stay alive for one of the top four spots in Class 4A, Region 8.

“We’re 1-2 in the region, and we’ve been trying to drive (tonight’s game’s importance) home in practice,” he said. “The kids know how important this game is for our future. But we try to take the same approach to every game. Every game is important, and we try to win every one of them.”

Danville is in a similar position to West, as the Hawks come into the game with a 2-3 overall record and 0-2 record in region play, having lost to the same two teams West did — Rogers and Wilson.

While the scores of the Rogers games were similar (the Pirates beat West 44-7 and Danville 48-0), West nearly defeated Wilson while Danville lost to the Warriors 44-21.

Danville has a strong running game led by running back Jacob Morehead, one of the top rushers in the area. Cantrell said the Wildcats defense will have to win the battle upfront in order to stop Morehead.

“We’ve got to control the line of scrimmage and really knock them back up front,” Cantrell said. “We’ve also got to tackle soundly. They are a very explosive team with their skill players, quarterback and fullback. They have the potential to be very dynamic.”

While West Limestone will be trying to stop Morehead, Danville’s defense will have its hands full with Wildcats quarterback Graham Pepper. Pepper has been doing it all for West, due to an injury to running back Nick Martindale that has kept him out all season.

Pepper had 330 total yards in last week’s win over Elkmont, 142 passing and 188 rushing, and accounted for four total touchdowns. Cantrell said Martindale is expected back for West’s next game, but in his absence, Pepper has had to shoulder the load both running and throwing.

“We don’t really have a true running back in our offense right now, so he’s having to play running back from the quarterback position as well as throw the ball,” Cantrell said. “He’s really had our offense clicking at times, and we also have a good receiving corps that he can get the ball to. For us to have success, he will have to carry the ball on the ground and also throw it well. He’s got a lot on his shoulders.”