Pearl River plays Shaw

Pearl River’s Rebels travel to the Westbank to take on the Archbishop Shaw Eagles in a bi-district playoff game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Hoss Memstas Stadium.

The 18th seeded Rebels (7-2, 3-2) are attempting to snap two streaks tomorrow night, their own two-game losing streak and the Eagles’ five-game run. Pearl River is coming off a 21-14 loss against Franklinton.

No. 15 Shaw (5-4, 5-0), the Class 4-A state runner-up last year, opened the season by playing a tough non-district schedule against Brother Martin, St. Paul’s, John Ehret and O. Perry Walker. The Eagles lost all four games, but those teams made the playoffs.

The Eagles turned an 0-4 start around when the District 8-4A season began, soaring through with a 5-0 record, including a 20-13-overtime win last week against Helen Cox to take the outright district title.

Conversely, Pearl River got off to a fast start at 7-0 before losing a pair of games to District 9-4A rivals Salmen (7-2, 5-0) and Franklinton (8-2, 4-1), two teams that combined for a 15-4 record.

Offensively, the Rebels run a Wing-T, led by James Gillum. Last week, Gillum ran for 87 yards on 32 carries. The other two running backs are Jeremiah Levy and Will Reed.

The quarterback is senior Matt Smith. Against Franklinton he and wide receiver Jacob Maxwell hooked up for a 30-yard touchdown pass, which at the time trimmed the Demons’ lead to 21-14.

Defensively, Shaw bases out of the 3-3-5. Coach Scott Bairnfather said senior middle linebacker Darius Robinson, sophomore defensive end Donald Phillips and free safety Chad Boyd have been playing well for the Eagles.

Shaw’s quarterback is senior Kyle Keating, who has 828 passing yards and eight touchdowns to go with six interceptions.

The Eagles have three running backs, including sophomore Lawrence Breaud, senior Holden Lombard and junior Chris Current. Breaud leads the team on the ground with 605 yards and seven scores. He also has 191 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Lombard is second with 394 yards and four TDs.