Nativity at Panther Valley

When: Thursday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week:

An 11th game is set for two evenly-matched programs.

Who says the season is over for teams who don’t make the playoffs? Tonight, the Nativity Green Wave (3-7) will play the Panther Valley Panthers (2-8) in what’s called a contingency game that will have no bearing on their official records. PV coach Mark Lavine began the process three weeks ago to set up an 11th game with another team, and Nativity coach Pat Mason quickly agreed. “First we asked the kids if they would want to play an 11th game, and they were all for it,” said Lavine. “Then we had to start planning some time ago so that both athletic directors could finalize the details, one of which was playing on a Thursday instead of a Friday so that officials could be available.” Asked if the game would be played to get a further look at young players who might be ready for more varsity minutes next season, Lavine didn’t hesitate with an answer. “Absolutely not,” he said. “We want to win the game. We have junior varsity games for getting kids ready for next season.” So, both Panther Valley and Nativity will play their seniors, whom both coaches would like to see end their high school careers with a victory in what should be an evenly-matched and highly-competitive game. “They’re a very aggressive team,” said Lavine of the Green Wave. “They use spread formations with a few different wrinkles and they like to throw the ball, especially to a tall wide receiver.” Lavine mentioned that teams with losing records might get invited to an Eastern Conference Tournament game, but he didn’t want to wait for what might not have happened. “There’s no negativity surrounding this game; we’re going to play, and neither team is practicing much for it at this time of the season because we want our players to have fresh legs going in.” The answer from both schools as to why they would play another game when the season is officially over was simply, ‘Why not?’ “This game has meaning for both teams,” said Lavine. “We’re looking forward to tonight, and we expect it might be close going into the final minutes.” Individual statistics may not be of significance in this contest since both schools have only scored a collective seven points in their last two games, so let both teams strap on their helmets for one last time in 2022 and ‘let’s get ready to rumble!”