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CENTREVILLE — After taking care of Washington School last week in the first round, the competition for Centreville Academy will definitely step up in a big way when the Tigers travel to Flora to take on the Tri-County Academy Rebels in the quarterfinals of the 2024 MAIS Class 4A State Playoffs.

Last Friday night, No. 8 seed Centreville Academy defeated No. 9 seed Washington School at home 34-7 to go 6-5 overall while defending Class 4A state champion Tri-County Academy (10-0) earned a first-round bye as District 2-4A champion.

“We took care of business early. The field was nasty. We were able to put points on the board early before the weather got too back,” Tigers assistant coach Brian Stutzman said. “We ran the ball well. The offensive line blocked well. Defense played well. Overall, it was a good team win for us.”

The Tigers go into this game having won three games in a row and five of their last six. This is also a rematch of last year’s Class 4A state semifinal game won by the Rebels, who were the No. 1 seed last year, over the No. 5 seed Tigers 45-0.

Tri-County Academy was won 16 games in a row after its only loss of the 2023 season — a 40-35 setback at home to MHSAA Class 1A Taylorsville High School last Sept. 29. The last time the Rebels fell to an MAIS team was on Nov. 17, 2022 in the Class 4A state championship game, a 26-14 loss to the St. Joseph Catholic School of Greenville Fighting Irish.

“We’ve had so far a good week of practice. Tri-County is a good team. They do a good job of running and passing the football. Hopefully we can have a better showing than we did last year. We have a big task in front of us. They’re a well-rounded team. Well-coached team. We’re obviously an underdog, but we’re hoping to pull out a victory this week.”

The good news for Centreville is that goes into this game as healthy as it has all season long. But as Stutzman pointed out, that wasn’t the case early in the season.

“The injury bug hit us early this year. We lost six players in the first five games to season-ending injuries. We have a small roster, anyway. But we’ve been fortunate enough to stay healthy the second half of the season. We’re learning how to play together as a team,” Stutzman said.

As for what concerns Stutzman, head coach Bill Hurst, and the rest of the coaching staff about Tri-County Academy on each side of the ball, Stutzman said, “They’re solid. They play great defense. They have a lot of team speed. We’re going to have a hard time moving on them. We have to stay low and not them get under our shoulder pads. Defensively, we have to stop their running game. They have strong running backs. We have to tackle well. It’s hard for just one player to tackle them. We’re going to have to tackle as a team.”

The Rebels’ defense is based out of a four-front, Stutzman noted. He then said that the Rebels offense usually has their quarterback in a shotgun formation, but they run a lot of power.

“Their quarterback, he’s a three-year starter. He can sling it. They’ll have a fullback and two backs in the backfield,” Stutzman said.

For Centreville to pull off the upset on the road and advance to the semifinals, Stutzman said the outcome will come down to the trenches.

“Our offensive and defensive lines have to play as well as they’ve played all year. Whoever dominates up front will determine who wins the game,” Stutzman said.