DOTHAN, Ala. – The rivalry between Houston Academy and Providence Christian is well documented.
“It’s kind of reminiscent of Tobacco Road. I guess this is Peanut Road,” said Raiders coach Scott Whitaker.
Come Thursday night, these two squads will meet with much more than a victory on the line.
“It’s win or go home,” said HA junior Kameryn Mitchell.
The Eagles and the Raiders will meet in the Class 3A Area 3 tournament on Thursday.
This won’t be the first time we see these two teams face off this season. Ha and providence have already met twice, splitting the season series a win a piece>
“They like to slow it down,” said PCS senior Grant Weatherford. “They like to slow the game down and play a half court game. We like to speed things up and play a full court game.”
“They play hard every second of the game,” said Mitchell. “Every quarter, every second, they play as hard as they can.”
So round three has allowed for some adjustments.
“We have to control their jump shooting ability,” said Whitaker. “We have to stay out of foul trouble. We have to get back on defense and make them play against five defenders.”
“We have to do a really good job on defense keeping it in front of us,” said Eagles coach Mark Wright. “That’s going to be a huge thing. The second time we played them, they hurt us. Being able to beat us off the dribble, get into the paint, and get into our help.”
Both sides though are chomping at the bit to get one more shot at the other.
“I want to play them,” said Raider eighth grader Kadyn Mitchell. “I lost to them last year in the playoffs and it kind of hurt. I’m trying to turn that around this year.”
“It’s actually an awesome experience,” said Weatherford. “I’m glad it ended up like this.”
