Booneville and Ozark opened the 2012 football season on Aug. 31.
One of them will finish the year against its biggest rival as well.
The Hillbillies and Bearcats will square off again, this time in the playoffs. It is the first time since 1987 the two have met in the postseason. Ozark’s 27-6 week one win seems like a long time ago, for both teams.
“We just went out there and were ready to go,” Ozark receiver Toby Richard said. “We were focused and just pumped to play Booneville, we always are. It’s a rival. We just went out there and played football.”
Booneville leads the all-time series 46-24-4 with the 75th overall meeting coming Friday night.
Things didn’t go quite sowell for the Bearcats three months ago.
“They left a pretty bad taste in our mouth,” Booneville quarterback Cody Harrel said. “I think we had eight fumbles, they recovered six of them. Yeah we've been looking forward to getting back at them in the playoffs all year.”
Both the Hillbillies and Bearcats have peaked at the right time of the year. Booneville has won four straight and seven of its last eight game. Ozark has reeled off five straight wins. But all of that will matter little on the outcome of this rivalry matchup.
“It`s going to be big,” Ozark quarterback Jonathon McKenzie said. “It`s always the biggest rival and having to play them two times in year is going to be pretty big.”
Booneville has won six of the last 10 meetings but Ozark has won the past two. That history won’t matter near as much as the history that will be made Friday night in Booneville.
“We have to come out focused, come out intense and just play ball like we can,” Booneville lineman Charles Alvarez said.