[05/02/01] WC coach Sam Temple and Tupelo coach Larry Harmon stood on Pearl’s field after their only meeting of the season and said, “See you in May.”

Their hunch becomes reality on Thursday when the Vikings (32-4) and Golden Wave (30-4) play the first game of a best-of-three series with a trip to the Class 5A state championship on the line.

But don’t expect many trick plays or tomfoolery; these two coaches know each other too well.

Temple and Harmon talk on the phone almost daily. They have exchanged lengthy scouting reports about each team’s playoff opponents, but no such report is needed now.

The Vikings (32-3) and Golden Wave (30-4) know each other as well as two teams can. The rivalry that has built up between the two is at times heated, and others serene.

It was the Wave that knocked a Shea Douglas-led WC team from the playoffs two years ago, a series Temple remembers well.

“Coach Harmon and I have been in this dance before,” WC coach Sam Temple said. “We didn’t come out on top and that is something that I go to bed every night thinking about.

“… I haven’t been on that field since (the 1-0 playoff loss in 1999), but I’ve been on it a lot in my head. There are a lot of ghosts there and we are really eager.”

Over time, though, as the series has picked up in intensity, the amount of tomfoolery each team can pull is minimal because their is nothing the other coach hasn’t seen or at least heard about.

This time of year, scouting becomes a major part,” Temple said. “And through our extensive friends we have around this state, we know what we are getting into.”

What is expected is, as Temple calls it, “another war.”

Harmon can expect to see the seemingly unbeatable Taylor Tankersley on Thursday.

Carl Upton (10-0), who has pitched as solid as anyone, especially in the postseason, is the probable Saturday starter. Brian Pettway, who has not pitched since leaving early in WC’s loss to Woodlawn, La., in mid-April, has been throwing and is ready, Temple said.

It’s figuring out Tankersley, however, that has been keeping Harmon up late at night. In the team’s first meeting, Pettway recorded the win.

Tankersley pitched the last inning and allowed two runs his only game to allow more than one run all season.

The Alabama-signee has ripped ramshod through opponents this year, rarely, though has he faced an offense as potent as Tupelo’s.

“We just have to go out and take care of business,” said Upton, who is coming off a shutout against Madison. “We just have to play the game and have fun.”

The Vikings’ offense, potentially, can hit with anyone. WC beat Starkville 1-0 in its first playoff game, then turned around to beat the Yellojackets 13-1.

WC’s five runs against Madison Central on Saturday were one more than the previous four games against the Jaguars.

“The one thing that we weren’t doing as well as other parts of our game seemed to be hitting lefties,” Temple said. “I think a lot of our guys pushed that omen away against one of the best left handers in the state (Madison’s Rob Blackledge). I was really pleased with the way we hit the ball against him.”

The Golden Wave will counter with lefty Mac Godwin, a senior that beat Clinton in the series-clinching win on Saturday. Godwin combines an average fastball and biting breaking ball.

His biggest attribute, especially against Warren Central, is that he is a lefty. WC’s only three losses are to southpaws.

Godwin and the Wave are riding a 23-game winning streak into the series.

“Tupelo is on a winning streak right now,” Towne said. “Hopefully, we can end that Thursday night. I think (the streak) will be hard on them and put some pressure on them. It would be tough for them to lose one right now, because it was tough for us.”

The Vikings are led by Brian Pettway (.480, 8 HRs, 43 RBIs), shortstop Joey Lieberman (.375, 9 HRs, 42 RBIs) and Taylor Tankersley (.365, 9 doubles). Kevin Coker, a senior hitting .393, will miss the rest of the postseason with a thumb injury.

The winner of the best-of-three series will meet the winner of the Meridian-Hattiesburg winner for the state championship, a spot WC has never been in and Tupelo won in 1992 and 1993.

“It’s going to be a fight Thursday night,” said Towne, a Meridian Community College signee who is hitting .327. “It should be a real good game.”