OCILLA — With a win at home tomorrow night, the Irwin County Indians would qualify for the state football playoffs for the ninth straight season.

That is the easy part, the hard part is Irwin will have to get that win over its oldest rivals, the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes.

The Indians will face the Hurricanes for the 65th time since 1922. Fitzgerald holds a 41-21-2 advantage over the years and has won five straight meetings over its southern neighbors.

This season, Fitzgerald is ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press Class AA state football poll and will come in with an 8-1 record on the year. With a 48-6 win over Jeff Davis last Friday, the Hurricanes have won two straight Region 2-AA championships.

“I am really proud for the kids, especially the seniors,” Fitzgerald head coach Robby Pruitt said. “They have worked hard the past two seasons.”

While Fitzgerald has rolled to an 8-1 mark, the Indians are at 4-5 on the year. Coach Jute Wilson’s team has won its last two games, 30-28 over Pierce County and 22-20 over Brantley County.

“We are playing better. But, we will need to be at our absolute best against Fitzgerald. Having watched them on tape, I feel like they have the best offense and the best defense we have seen this year,” said Wilson.

Even though Fitzgerald knows they will be at home to open the state playoffs, the Indians are still on the bubble. A win over the Hurricanes would get the Ocilla Tribe into the postseason. However, a loss puts Irwin in a situation that would require the Indians to depend on other teams for Irwin to get a playoff spot.

The Indians are currently in a three-way tie for third at 3-3 in the 2-AA standings with Brantley County and Bacon County.

While the Indians face Fitzgerald this week, Brantley will be up against Charlton County and Bacon will face Pierce.

Besides the three 3-3 teams, Jeff Davis and Appling County, are also in the mix as those two teams are both 2-4 in the league. Appling will close out the season against Jeff Davis tomorrow night.

During the season, Irwin has beaten Brantley and Jeff Davis, but was defeated by Appling and Bacon. According to Wilson, these are the different playoff scenarios for the Indians if Irwin falls to Fitzgerald and Brantley loses to Charlton.

If Bacon and Appling both win, Bacon would get the third seed and Irwin, Brantley and Appling would be tied for the fourth seed. Irwin beat Brantley, Brantley beat Appling and Appling beat Irwin, so the next tie-breaker is other Class AA opponents. Appling has a win over East Laurens, so the Pirates would get the fourth seed.

Losses by both Bacon and Appling, would result in a four-way tie for the third and fourth seeds. That would mean Irwin, Brantley, Jeff Davis and Bacon would all be tied at 3-4. That would mean those four schools would meet for tie-breaker games on either Saturday or Monday.

If Bacon loses and Appling wins, Appling would be the league’s No. 3 seed and Brantley, Bacon and Irwin would meet each other in a tie-breaker situation.

Finally, if Appling loses and Bacon wins, Bacon would be the No. 3 seed and Irwin would be in at No. 4. The Indians would be tied with Jeff Davis and Brantley, but Irwin would get the playoff nod, because the Indians have defeated both of those teams this season.

“The only way we wouldn’t play more football is to have both Bacon and Appling win,” Wilson said.

While the Indians will go in as underdogs against Fitzgerald, Pruitt feels like his team will have to be at its’ best against the Ocilla Tribe.

“Their kids always seem to play lights out against us. They have always played us tough,” Pruitt said. “And since I have been here, it always seems like they have been a little more up for us than we have for them. Hopefully, our kids will be ready to go.”

The Hurricanes’ offense has been led by running back Nate Inman. The senior leads the Tiftarea with 1,121 rushing yards on 132 carries this year. He also has eight catches for 118 yards.

Inman has also scored 16 touchdowns in 2005 to lead the area with 96 total points.

“Nate has played well,” Pruitt said.

The coach added, “Our quarterback (Josh Battle) has also thrown the ball well in recent games.”

Battle has completed 50 percent of his passes this season (49 for 98) for 741 yards. He has thrown 10 touchdowns and has only been intercepted twice.

His favorite target has been Darian Austile, who has caught 20 passes for 344 yards and five touchdowns.

Other offensive leaders for the Hurricanes have included Johnathan Roberts, 51 carries for 718 yards; Dion Ross, 71 carries for 590 yards; Tony Vickers, 26 carries for 252 yards; and Chad Thompson, eight catches for 171 yards.

Irwin’s leading rusher is P.J. Florence. After rushing for 487 yards in his last two games, the senior has 1,089 yards on the year. He has also scored 92 points.

“Florence has really been running well in the last couple of games. Their fullback (Chavarious Carlton) has also come back from that ankle sprain he had,” Pruitt said.

Carlton has rushed for 588 yards on 85 carries.

Irwin runs behind offensive lineman Justin Anderson, who was selected for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl game this past Monday. That game features the top 78 players in the United States.

“They have played well in their last couple of games. They have had a lot of injuries this year and those guys are getting healthy for them,’ Pruitt said.

Even though Pruitt has nothing but praise for the Indians, Wilson still knows his team will be in for a tough night.

“They are a great team. Like I said, they will be the best team we have played this year,” the Irwin coach said.

Game time is 7:30 p.m. in Ocilla.