Last year I predicted that Mt. Pisgah would make the GHSA playoffs for the first time in school history. Well, I was wrong. But if you read the first paragraph in the Patriots preview, then you know how close I was to being right. Mt. Pisgah came within a third-and-35 fourth quarter play of making the playoffs.

This year, I feel the same way. Patriot coach Doug Dixon is a machine. He has three things that players (and media members) love in coaches: he's enthusiastic, he's eternally optimistic and he's brutally honest. When I asked him how he felt about all of the small private schools being lumped into one region, here's what he said, "When you put as many private schools as you put in our region," Dixon said, "I think that's [the GHSA's] way of trying to eliminate them [before the playoffs] and I don't think that's right."

Dixon might not have to worry about that this year because though because I think his team will be one of the teams left standing in the 15-team battle royal known as Region 5-A. If quarterback Kyle Sloter stays healthy, this team is playoff bound – he'll be out the first three weeks, which are all non-region games. Pisgah went 1-3 last year in the four game Sloter sat out with an injury.

I'm going to say that Mt. Pisgah goes 5-4 which will be good enough for third in their sub-region which will put them in the region playoff game in week 10.