For the Sussex County Mustangs of the Junior Diamond Football League it’s now or never if they’re going to make the playoffs this year.
Their 21-6 Week 5 loss to the Cecil County Saints on March 3 left the Mustangs with few outs heading into the regular-season finale against the Norfolk Chiefs, and they now face a must-win situation if they’re going to advance.
“Right now, we’re pretty much in a must-win situation,” Mustangs running back Justin Kraft confirmed. “There’s a lot of other stuff that could happen and get us into the playoffs (with a loss), but pretty much if we win then we’re in.”
The top four teams in the mid-Atlantic division will make the playoffs. The first tie-breaker in the playoff seeding is determined by head-to-head match-ups. The second tie-breaker is points scored against.
And at 4-1, the Saints secured the No. 1 seed. The Kent County 49ers and Cobras, and the Norfolk Chiefs, all have 3-2 records and are in control of their own playoff destinies. They currently hold the second, third and fourth playoff slots, heading into the regular-season finale.
The Chiefs have fallen into a tail-spin, losing each of the past two weeks. But a win over the Mustangs would put them in contention for either of the final two remaining playoff spots.
The Mustangs will need help, according to Hall.
“The Mustangs don’t control their own destiny,” he said. “They’re going to need a couple things to happen for them to make it.”
First, they have to beat the Chiefs on March 10. Then, they would need the 49ers to beat the Cobras for the Mustangs to secure the fourth and final mid-Atlantic playoff slot.
The Mustangs beat the 49ers themselves, 18-0, in Week 2, but then fell to the Cobras 16-8 the very next week.
They lost to the Chiefs 22-8 in the season-opener, but, according to Kraft, the Mustangs are eager for a rematch and a chance to make the playoffs in front of their home crowd.
“We feel really confident, even though we lost to the Saints, because we picked each other up and worked together real well,” Kraft said.
“Being that we’re so diverse, from so many different schools, it can be easy to point the finger to lay the blame. But we didn’t do that, and now it all comes down to us.
“We’ve had great crowd support this year, and it would be great to pull (the win) out in front of the home crowd,” he added.
The Saints struck early on the opening drive of Week 5’s game, capping a two-play, 70-yard drive to jump out to a 7-0 lead. They then capitalized on a blocked punt to score another touchdown prior to halftime.
Elijah Foreman scored the Mustangs’ lone touchdown on a 15-yard scamper after hurdling two defenders.
“It was truly awesome,” Kraft said of Foreman’s athletic touchdown run.
Kraft indicated that their game against the Chiefs should be a good game the second time around. The Chiefs jumped out to an early lead, but the Mustangs were able to establish a clock-gobbling running game in the second half in which Foreman scored their only touchdown.
“The Chiefs are very talented, fast and quick,” Kraft admitted. “They don’t have much size, but they play very quick to the ball.
“But midway through the second quarter we were able to run the ball right down their throat, and I’m pretty sure that’ll be our game-plan,” he added of the coming game.
The mid-Atlantic Junior DFL playoffs are set to begin March 24, with the No. 1 seed playing the fourth seed and the second playing the third. The mid-Atlantic championship bowl game will be held at either Dover High School or Caravel Academy, on March 31.
The winner of that game will represent the mid-Atlantic region against the winner of the Florida Division in the DFL East Coast championship, which will be held at either the Orange Bowl in Miami or Bishop Borrough Catholic School in Fort Myers on April 14.
The winner of the East Coast Championship game will receive approximately $3,400 dollars in prize money, to go to toward their respective team’s traveling expenses, according to Hall.
The Mustangs will host the Chiefs at the Southern Delaware School of the Arts athletic fields at 3 p.m. on March 10.