Porters Chapel Academy goes into the MAIS Class A playoffs for the second straight year. Waiting on them will be the Riverfield Academy Rebels, last year’s MAIS Class A state finalists.

Riverfield is 8-3, just like it was last season, when as a No. 3 seed from District 3, ran off three playoff wins to reach the finals at Mississippi College before falling to Tri-County 38-14.

This time, the Rebels are at home in Rayville, La., and the Eagles (4-6) have not been a good road team this season, with only one win, that coming against Union Christian.

Still, PCA coach Wade Patrick said the Eagles are coming off their best game of the season, a 40-14 rout of Prentiss Christian. Senior running back Peter Harris ran for 288 yards and six touchdowns to key the effort.

“I felt like we finally played almost four quarters of football last week,” Patrick said. “We controlled the game from the start. Even when we were down at the half, I felt like we should have been up 28-7. We came back and rode that wave in the second half.”

Riverfield might be a tougher team against the run.

“They are big up front,” Patrick said. “The thing I notice was their aggressiveness. They like to put nine in the box and make you beat them the other way. We’ll have to figure out how to move the ball against them.”

A big reason why is 290-pound senior defensive tackle Ben Sylvestri. Regarded as Riverfield’s top player, Sylvestri has drawn recruiting interest from several Louisiana colleges.

On offense, Riverside is paced by quarterback Will Stansbury, who transferred from Delhi Charter.

For PCA, a big lift was the return of regular starting quarterback Jonah Masterson. The junior made his first start since the opener at Union Christian and completed 4-of-9 passes for 28 yards.

“We started out in the spread last week and Jonah had some nice completions,” Patrick said. “He made one bad throw, but I was actually okay with his read. The ball just got too much air under it.”

A key for the Eagles is to get Harris the ball in space. He now has 1,398 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns, with another three scores catching passes and three from returns.

“He’s had a great year for us and we’ve enjoyed it,” Patrick said. “Now, we need another big game from him this week.”

PCA was able to overcome some injuries on defense, specifically the season-ending loss of linebacker Rich Murphy. Patrick said Hunter Lyons and Logan Pickering have stepped up at the inside linebacker spots. Sam Kirk continues to have a stellar season at outside linebacker.

“Sam has had a real good year for us and we got back (defensive end) Michael Croisdale, which gives us another big body for our defensive line.”