By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

Picayune hopes to do something its never done in the past in order to continue to do something it’s done pretty regularly recently.

The Maroon Tide hosts perennial power Wayne County Friday, in a crucial Region 3-5A contest that is the regular season finale for both squads.

Picayune is tied with the War Eagles for second place in the league standings, and the winner of this game will earn the second spot and the loser will finish third in the standings.

The top two teams get to host an opening round state playoff game, while the third and fourth seeds have to travel in the opening round. West Jones, thanks to wins over Wayne County and Picayune in the past two weeks, has clinched the region championship and Brookhaven has secured the fourth spot.

“I think our kids are looking at it as just another game we need to win,” Picayune head coach Dodd Lee said. “They know they are good, but we’ve played good teams before.”

Picayune has hosted an opening round playoff game four straight years, and six of the past seven seasons, and won all six games. The Maroon Tide didn’t make the playoffs in 2004.

But to be able to host another first round playoff game, the Tide will have to accomplish something it never has before and that’s register a win over Wayne County. Picayune is 0-5 against the War Eagles all time, including three losses in the past four years in the playoffs.

All three of those games have been on the road. This will mark just the second time that Wayne County has played in Picayune, the last time being in 1994.