Playoff time has come to high school football and all the local teams are in action tonight.

Class 4A, District 7 champ Bell County (9-1) hosts Greenup County (3-7) the fourth place team from District 8. Middlesboro (3-7) the Class 2A, District 8 runner-up plays host to Bath County (2-8), the third place team from District 7. Pineville (4-6), the third place team from Class 1A, District 7, travels to District 8 runner-up Allen Central (9-1).

In Tennessee, Claiborne (8-2) is a number three seed in their Class 4A playoff bracket and will host six seed Brainerd (7-3) while Cumberland Gap (5-5) is the six seed in their Class 3A bracket and will visit top-seeded Elizabethton (8-2).

Pineville vs. Allen Central

While the Mountain Lions are the three seed going up against a one-loss two seed, this game could be the most competitive of all the match-ups. Allen Central hasn’t played an opponent with a winning record all season and the teams posted similar results against their four common opponents. The one exception is the Rebels’ one-point overtime win over a Harlan team that topped Pineville 26-18.

Lion coach Bart Elam says he’s confident his team will be ready to give Allen Central a game.

“The kids are excited about the opportunity, practice has gone really well this week and we’re pretty injury-free as far as that goes,” he said. “We’re going in as the underdog and we’ll have to play a good football game to have a chance to win it. That’s how it goes in the playoffs.”

The Rebels will be trying to win their first playoff game ever tonight. Their offense has produced three 1,000-yard rushers this season out of the power T.

Logan Crowder as carried the ball 117 times for 1,310 yards and 17 touchdowns, Hunter Crowder has 1,046 yards and 13 TDs on 134 carries and Justin Jackson has run for 1,110 yards and 13 TDs on 127 carries.

The three running backs line up behind quarterback Chris Stumbo in an all-senior backfield for Allen Central. Stumbo has thrown just 35 passes on the season, completing 16 of them for 285 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.

“They just line up with two tight ends in that straight T,” Elam said. “The Crowder boys are both big backs and Jackson’s a quick back that complements them.

“They haven’t played as good of a schedule as we have, obviously. But when you go 9-1 and have three backs over 1,000 yards you’re doing something good.”

Pineville features a more balanced attack with 1,898 rushing yards on the year and 1,318 passing. They’ve had success moving the ball with both their spread formation and lining up in the I.

Junior running back Cody Hendrickson leads the Lions with 975 rushing yards on 145 carries and 13 touchdowns, he also has 182 receiving yards. Sophomore Brandon Bailey has emerged as a quality change of pace while filling in for injured fullback Alvin Smith. Bailey has run for 281 yards and five TDs on 31 carries.

Senior quarterback Mark Combs has completed 91 of 160 passes for 1,281 yards and eight touchdowns with eight interceptions. Junior Eric Raby leads the receivers with 32 catches for 345 yards.

“We’re the faster team, but they’ve got a size advantage. We’ve faced that all year long,” Elam said.

He said a big key for Pineville is getting the Rebel offense off the field on third and fourth down.

“We’ve got to get them in 3rd and 5 situations and they’ll go for it on fourth down if they’re close,” Elam said. “We don’t want to get in a game where they’re holding on to the football and running twice as many plays as we do. That’s what they’ll want to do.”

“The kids are going down there confident that they can win the game. It’s like I keep telling them, we’re a good football team,” the coach added. “We may be 4-6, but with the exception of the one game against Hazard we’ve been in every game and if the ball would have bounced our way a couple of time we could be 7-3 or 8-2.”

Pineville fans will be thrilled if they can come back from Eastern with win number five.

The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m.

Greenup Co. vs. Bell County

The Musketeers are doing everything they can to try give the heavily favored Bobcats a run for their money. To avoid a four-hour drive on game day, coach Mike Copley brought his team to Middlesboro Thursday night to prepare for tonight’s game.

They’ll probably need all the help they can get. The Bobcats have reeled off nine straight wins this season and are riding a 22-game winning streak against teams from Kentucky.

Bell has been especially sharp in recent weeks, outscoring their last four opponents by a combined 222-27 (that includes district foes Madison Southern and McCreary Central, 5A Harlan County and Soddy Daisy, a 6A school from Tennessee).

Bobcat sophomore Cory Davenport has rushed for 1,342 yards and 20 touchdowns on the year while junior fullback John Dudley Hilton is up to 364 yards and six TDs on 50 carries.

Junior quarterback Ben Madon has completed 50 of 84 passes on the season for 1,014 yards and 13 TDs with just two interceptions. Cory Davenport lead the receivers with 18 catches for 469 yards and 6 TDs.

Hilton leads the Bobcat defense with 105 total tackles on the year from his linebacker spot while senior defensive tackle Billy Lawson is up to 73 stops.

The Musketeers are hoping to have their leading rusher Rashard Carter back for the game after missing time with an injury. The senior has run for 908 yards and eight touchdowns on 87 carries in seven games.

Junior Cory Lyle has filled in with 790 total yards on 144 rushes and also scored 8 TDs on the season.

Bell will be without senior Matt Raines and junior Dominic Carton for tonight’s game due to injuries.

The defending state 4A champion Bobcats shouldn’t have much trouble advancing against a Greenup team that has been outscored 326-170 on the season.

The game is set start at 7:30 p.m.

Middlesboro vs. Bath County

The playoffs will offer a chance for the Yellow Jackets to turn around what has been a very disappointing season by their standards.

Up first for the Jackets is tonight’s matchup with the Wildcats.

Bath went through their own struggles this season as they started off 0-7 before pulling out close wins over East Carter and Morgan County to earn the three seed out of District 7.

The Wildcats have some size, but could have trouble defending Middlesboro’s passing game.

Sophomore quarterback Chase Roark has thrown for 1,412 yards and 10 touchdowns in nine games this season and is likely to look to senior receivers Matt Powers and Barton Poore early and often tonight.

Powers leads the Jackets with 33 catches for 538 yards and five touchdowns while Poore has 25 catches for 464 and four scores.

Senior running back Cody Smith has battled ankle injuries for much of the season and fought his way to 270 yard on 45 carries and five TDs. Junior Josh Delauer runs hard for the Jackets and is up to 184 yards on 29 carries and three TDS.

If the Jackets can get past Bath County they’ll likely have a tough matchup next week at Prestonsburg.

They’ll kick things off with the Wildcats at 7:30 p.m.

Cumberland Gap

vs. Elizabethton

The Panthers drew a tough opening round assignment as they visit District 1-2A champions.

All you need to know about the Cyclones is that hold a 10-0 win over the same Greeneville team that defeated Cumberland Gap 54-6.

“We’re the underdog and we’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain,” said Panther coach Neal Pucciarelli. “We’re going to go out there and try to do our very best.”

Cumberland Gap has overcome a long list of injuries this season and closed the year with two straight wins despite having seven players starting that were projected to be on the bench at the start of the year.

“We’ve had five broken legs since the spring and various other injuries,” Pucciarelli said. “It’s got to the point where Blake Frankin has had to come in and play (quarterback) for Ryan Shipley, and Blake’s a freshman. We lost our center to a broken leg, but what I’m proud of is how our kids have stepped up and continued to try to get better and perform each week.”

Shipley threw for 1,265 in eight games, but Franklin has stepped right in and kept the pace. Franklin threw for 391 yards and five TDs in a 48-25 win over Cosby, and added 166 yards and two scoring tosses in a 26-24 win over Grainger.

He has also ran for 168 yards and three TDs in those two games, giving him an astounding 725 yards of total offense in just two games. That would be 3,625 yards for 10 games.

On the positive side for the Panthers, senior receiver Whitt Willis has returned from injury to total 364 yards and five touchdowns in two games and now has Willis has 22 career touchdowns.

Elizabethton will have their own injuries to deal with, though nothing on the level of what Cumberland Gap has been through. Quarterback Ryan Thomas is still hobbled by an ankle injury from a Week 9 loss to Christian Academy of Knoxville, and all-purpose threat Taylor Hodge is out for the season.

Cody Forbes leads Elizabethton with 705 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns. Preston Itaro has added 614 yards and 10 scores. McKenley Berry (379 yards, 3 TDs) has filled in nicely for Thomas (778 yards, 7 TDs passing, 6 rushing).

Pucciarelli knows his Panthers will be in for a dog fight as they go up against a Cyclone itching for their first playoff win since 2004. But he also knows his players will be giving it their best shot.

“I’m very excited that we’re in the playoffs after the season that we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of kids who believe in what we do and continue to play hard and compete. I can’t say enough good things about the character of our kids.

“Just come out and watch us play.”

The Panthers and Cyclones will kick off at 7 p.m.