Dothan faces Prattville in playoffs

The Prattville Lions have participated in 33 playoff games since the last time Dothan made the state playoffs.

The Lions have also won three straight state championships and haven’t lost to a team from the state of Alabama in four years.

None of that history bothers Dothan, which is taking a nothing-to-lose mentality to Prattville Friday to face the vaunted Lions at Stanley Jensen Field in the first round of the Class 6A state playoffs.

“We are the underdogs, and a lot of people don’t think we have a chance, but we feel we have a good football team,” Dothan head coach Kelvis White said. “We are not going to do anything different, and we will not be intimidated.”

Friday’s playoff game is the first for Dothan since 2001, breaking one of the longest playoff droughts in the Wiregrass.

“Everybody is real excited,” White said. “All the kids are pumped, and the players are excited to have an opportunity to play an 11th week.”

An “opportunity” is how Dothan views the game with the second-ranked Lions, who are 8-2 with both losses to nationally ranked, out-of-state teams.

The Lions have won 49 straight against in-state foes, last losing in the 2005 state quarterfinals to Opelika.

“They haven’t lost to anybody in the state in a while, but we have an opportunity Friday,” White said.

Just 12 months ago, a playoff opportunity was something unimaginable as Dothan finished its seventh straight season without a winning record and its second straight year with a 1-9 record.

However, the Tigers have made a six-game turnaround. At 7-3, they have won more games than any Dothan team since the 2001 team won eight. In fact, the Tigers have won more games than the last four DHS teams combined (six).

Dothan started strong, beating tradition-rich Class 5A program Eufaula soundly 31-7 in the season opener.

After losing to highly ranked Auburn (now No. 1 in the state), Dothan rallied late in the final two minutes to beat Opelika 45-41.

That final two-minute surge, it turned out, vaulted Dothan into the playoffs. The Tigers are in after winning a tiebreaker over Opelika, via the head-to-head meeting.

Wins over Smiths Station, Carroll and Russell County followed, then a two-game losing skid with losses to playoff teams Central-Phenix City and Enterprise.

The Tigers rebounded, whipping rival Northview and playoff bound R.E. Lee by a combined 68-13.

White hopes the Tigers can contain the good play from the last two weeks, something he says will be needed against Prattville.

“We have to play like we have the last two weeks — and that is to be solid in all three phases of the game,” White said. “We have to execute of offense, fly to the ball on defense and be sound in the kicking game.”

After watching Prattville on film all week, White said there is no secret why the Lions are so good.

“Speed,” White said. “You can tell on film how fast they are, especially on offense. The other obvious thing that jumps out is how well coached they are. They don’t make many mistakes, and they are always where they are supposed to be on the field in all three phases. They are a well-oiled machine.”

Enterprise used to playoff pressure: The schedule may say it’s the first round of the state playoffs, but it will feel like its the sixth week of the playoffs for Enterprise.

After a 1-3 start — 0-3 in the region, the Wildcats had to almost win out to make the playoffs.

And they had to do most of it on the road with four of the six games in hostile grounds.

The ’Cats won all six games, securing an eighth straight state playoff appearance.

“It has been five weeks of intense back-to-the-wall pressure for our guys to get into the playoffs,” EHS head coach Kevin Collins said. “The kids responded well.”

Enterprise (7-3) travels Friday to Wetumpka (6-4), a much better team than the record indicates, Collins said.

“They have some good athletes on both sides of the ball who have given a lot of people problems,” Collins said.

The game is a rematch of last year’s opening round. Wetumpka won that game 26-16.

Enterprise enters this year’s game with a major question mark at quarterback.

Rhett Harrelson, who emerged in the last three-fourths of the season, suffered an AC joint sprain on the shoulder of his non-throwing hand during last week’s win over Jeff Davis.

Collins said Harrelson was “questionable” for the game and that it would be a game-time decision between him and backup Tyler Warren.