Prediction

Parry McCluer (6-4) at Narrows (5-4)

WHEN: 7 p.m. on Thursday WHERE: Ragsdale Field in Narrows MATCHUP: No. 5 Parry McCluer at No. 4 Narrows SCOUTING THE GREEN WAVE: Narrows faces the Blues for the second time this season. When the two teams met in PM’s homecoming game on Oct. 11 in Buena Vista, the Green Wave won 35-13. Since then, PM and Narrows each won two of their final four games. Narrows is coming off a 49-12 home loss to Pioneer District champion Bath County, which had beaten PM 63-6 a week earlier in Hot Springs and finished the regular season 9-0. In last Friday’s game, Narrows quarterback Hunter Owens passed for 69 yards, with wide receiver Elijah Knoetze making four catches for 49 yards. When PM and Narrows played last month, Knoetze scored three TDs on passes from Tucker Bryan, who scored on a 50-yard run. The Blues committed two turnovers, while Narrows had none.

SCOUTING THE BLUES: The Blues finished the regular season by cruising to a 48-0 home win over a rebuilding Eastern Montgomery team. It’s been an up-and-down season for the Blues, whose only home loss was to Narrows. The last two years, the Blues bowed out of the playoffs in the Region 1C quarterfinals at George Wythe. To prevent the same fate, they’ll have to take care of the ball and play well both offensively and defensively. With starting quarterback Nathan Glass out for the season due to an injury in late October, the Blues will likely rely on their running game to fuel their offense.

THE NEWS-GAZETTE’S PICK: We expect this game to be more competitive than the regular-season showdown, with the Blues carrying some momentum from last week’s win. However, Narrows is a formidable foe, and we see the Green Wave dealing PM a 31-22 loss.