Friday’s regional clash with Greenville carries with it a number of practical and sentimental applications that Tiger players and coaches say are not serving as distractions to their efforts.

“We really haven’t thought about those things,” senior center Morgan Lecroy said of a game that serves as Senior Night and the last regular season home game in Memorial Stadium. “We just come out here ready to work. Any game could be our last game as seniors.”

In addition to the obvious emotional connotations of Friday night’s contest, the game also carries with it significant playoff implications. If Demopolis were to come out victorious against Greenville and take a win away from Wilcox-Central the following week, it would lock up not only a poststeason berth, but also the right to host a first-round playoff game.

“We haven’t talked to them a whole lot about that,” DHS head coach Tom Causey said. “Every game we play is big for us.”

“It’s just focusing on getting better and doing what we do best,” senior linebacker Greg Irvin said. “If we focus on us, everything else will take care of itself. (The fact that it’s the last game in Memorial Stadium and it’s Senior Night) is just motivation for us to go even harder.”

That level of focus to which Irvin was referring has been among the chief contributing factors in the Tigers’ recent run of success. Coaches and players have been very candid about the effects the team’s practice habits over the past few weeks have had on their Friday night performances.

“We’re not listening to what goes on outside that practice field,” Irvin said.

“We actually have senior leadership now,” Lecroy added. “And we are having a little bit more fun.”

“We just quit taking the game so serious and quit playing not to lose and started playing to win,” Irvin said.