ORANGE, Texas — Little Cypress-Mauriceville has already done something only one other Battlin' Bear football team has accomplished. Reach the State Quarterfinals.
Back in 1997 LCM came up short, losing to La Marque, 41-20.
This time around the Battlin' Bears will face Chapel Hill out of Tyler.
On paper the matchup looks pretty even with LCM listed as a slight favorite.
Head Coach Eric Peevey talked about the opportunity of becoming the first LCM team to advance to the State Semifinals.
"We'll bring it up. We'll talk about it a little bit. We always talk about, my big thing with the kids year in and year out is what do you want your banner to say? You know we do banners for every year that the kids make the playoffs. And you tell the seniors when you walk in here twenty years from now and your son is going through the little league camp, that football camp, and you're walking up and your banners are hanging you're going to say hey that's daddy's banner. What do you want your banner to say? What legacy do you want to leave at your school? And that's a big deal, is what that banner says. So we're going to fight to have that banner say Regional Champion."
Chapel Hill entered the playoffs as the number four seed out of their district, but have already upset Vidor, Brazosport and Kilgore to reach the fourth round.
"With them making their position changes and switch ups they did when the freshman quarterback went to starter, they lost three games in a row. And then as soon as he got his groove going, since then they've been averaging 45 points a game. I think Vidor did an excellent defensively slowing them down. We're going to have to do the same exact thing and slow them down. But you know our offense has to continue doing what they're doing, which is just grounding it out and hitting them pass plays when we need to hit them. So I think the kids are ready, I think the coaches are ready so it's going to be a good game."
4A-DIVISION I STATE QUARTERFINALS
Chapel Hill Bulldogs (10-3) vs Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin' Bears (11-2)
Friday 7:30 pm, Berry Center - Cypress
Series: First Meeting
Winner vs (1) Austin LBJ Jaguars (13-0) or Fredericksburg Battlin' Billies (9-4)
SEASON RESULTS
Chapel Hill Bulldogs (10-3)
at Greenville, W 63-36
vs Livingston, W 35-15
at Hallsville, W 35-16
vs Center, W 59-21
*vs Athens, W 57-21
*at Lindale, L 36-14
*vs Palestine, L 30-27
*at Kilgore, L 41-20
*vs Mabank, W 50-22
*at Henderson, W 32-14
(*) District
Bi-District - Vidor, W 25-20
Area - Brazosport, W 51-27
Regional - Kilgore, W 41-35
Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin' Bears (11-2)
at Hamshire-Fannett, W 26-6
at West Orange-Stark, L 39-20
at Katy Jordan, W 32-6
vs Kinkaid, W 49-20
vs Jasper, W 13-0
*at Huffman Hargrave, W 39-31
*vs Vidor, L 29-12
*at Lumberton, W 33-31
*vs Livingston, W 33-15
*at Splendora, W 41-7
(*) District
Bi-District - Palestine, W 34-24
Area - Columbia, W 42-21
Regional - El Campo, W 24-21