Shawnee has advanced to the playoffs four times since 2005, getting to the regional finals in both ’05 and ’09. They lost both games by a touchdown, falling to Clyde 7-0 in ’05 and Cincinnati Wyoming 14-7 two years ago.
“We hope to get over the hump,” said Shawnee coach Rick Meeks.
In their first two regional final appearances, the Braves were in unfamiliar territory.
“To be honest, we were just happy to be there,” Meeks said. “We’d finished 7-3 and lost some close games. It was all icing on the cake for us. It was the same way in 2005 after we got our first playoff win in school history.
“This year, it’s different.”
Last year, the Braves saw its season end in the regional semifinals in a tough 41-21 loss to Eaton.
Entering this season, the Braves had three goals — finish the season undefeated, win the super-competitive Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division title and win a regional crown for the first time in school history.
“We’ve accomplished a couple of those goals, and we’ve put ourselves in a position to accomplish another one of those goals,” Meeks said. “The hard part is doing it.”
After scoring 20 unanswered second-half points to beat Thurgood Marshall last week 20-13, Meeks said his team is motivated to keep moving forward in the postseason.
“We’re hungry,” Meeks said. “We want to win it. We feel we belong.”
Standing in their way is Jonathan Alder, a perennial playoff team which advanced to its third regional final game in 11 straight playoff appearances.
“They want to run the ball, but they can throw it, too,” Meeks said. “They’re very efficient at (throwing the ball). They’re similar to us in that they can do that.”
The Pioneers have a much larger squad than Shawnee with 80 players, including 20 seniors. They use just two players both ways.
“They’ve got more depth than we do,” Meeks said. “They’ve already got an advantage on us on there, and the kids know that.”
Meeks said the goal this week is to play tough, improve on special teams and cut down on penalties and turnovers.
“You have to reduce the mistakes when you get to this point in the tournament,” Meeks said.
He’s also expecting the unexpected to happen. Last week, the Braves used a goal-line stand to keep Thurgood Marshall from tying the game as the clock expired.
“After the first round,” Meeks said, “it tends to get crazy. I expect nothing less from this one.”
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