Exactly a year ago, Munford hosted Clarksville in the first round of the state playoffs.
The Cougars led 28-13 with 10:44 left in the game and appeared to be headed to round two.
But Clarksville recovered an onside kick, scored two touchdowns and kicked a field goal over an eight-minute span to win 29-28.
So, on Friday when Munford hosts Clarksville again in the first round of the playoffs the players will be all fired up to get some revenge, right?
Wrong.
“I’d say the majority of the kids on my team can’t even tell you who beat us in the playoffs last year,” said head coach Slade Calhoun, who was an assistant last season. “They could care less. I don’t know if kids get worked up anymore about things like revenge. I don’t ever hear any of my kids say anything like that. They just want to go play.”
So much for the revenge story line.
“When I was in school we were always saying we want to get revenge for this or that,” Calhoun said with a laugh. “I don’t ever hear any of my players even mention it.”
Nevertheless, a lot will be on the line.
Munford (7-3) has lost just three games – Covington, Hardin County and Evangelical Christian School – and they all came against teams ranked in the state’s top two at the time.
A win against Clarksville (4-4) means Munford would be in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
As is always the case in the Class 5A playoffs, teams want to avoid Region 7-5A champ Henry County as long as possible. As the Region 8-5A champ, Munford would not have to play them until the quarterfinals, assuming both teams get that far.
Clarksville and Munford have one common opponent: Dyer County. Clarksville beat them 24-21 in September. The Cougars beat the Choctaws 35-21 three weeks ago.
Munford was off last week and picked up a COVID win.
“We probably could have found somebody to play, but we decided having a bye week before the playoffs was better,” Calhoun said. “It gave us a chance to get a head start on Clarksville and work on ourselves a little bit.”
