Natchitoches Central stopped Haughton’s unbeaten season last Friday night.
Tonight, the Chiefs try to cool off another playoff-bound district foe when they visit Independence Stadium in Shreveport for a 7 o’clock contest against Huntington’s Raiders. The game will be broadcast on 100.7 FM KZBL.
NCHS picked up its first win this fall last week after three close calls against other district opponents. The Chiefs jumped on top and never trailed, coming up with a series of defensive stops including a goalline stand to end the first half, and beat Haughton 27-14 in Turpin Stadium.
The Chiefs (1-8 overall, 1-4 in District 1-5A) will line up against a Huntington team that like NCHS, took on a very challenging non-district schedule and has found its footing lately. The Raiders (3-6, 3-2) have won three of their last four, including the last two, notably a 32-6 victory last Friday at Benton a week after Benton edged NCHS 41-35 in overtime.
NCHS showed its diversity offensively last week, scoring on a 16-yard pass from Kobe Jones to Ronald Bolton, a 3-yard Kaden Kuykendoll run up the middle and a 24-yard fourth-down conversion on a pass from Jones Blessed Brown.
Huntington is almost certain to fit into the Select Division I 24-team playoff bracket. NCHS must win and get a series of favorable results from 11 other games this weekend to reach the 28-team Non-Select Division I postseason field.