Prep Football Preview: This Civil War means more than ever

Longview Super Bowl — Playoff spots are on the line tonight at The Stadium

The plastic grass of Longview Memorial Stadium will turn into.a battle field tonight for a special Halloween rendition of the Civil War with R.A. Long and Mark Morris fighting for one of the final playoff spots out of the 2A GSHL. — Blast Zone Media

Nick Sisson for Blast Zone Media

A cross-town rivalry that began all the way back on October 3, 1958 will spark up again for the 81st time Thursday night when Mark Morris and R.A. Long get together for a Halloween night Civil War football affair. Originally this game was scheduled to be played Friday, Nov. 1, but the playoff ramifications attached to the result of Longview’s biggest game forced the powers that be to come up with an earlier date to accommodate potential tiebreaker scenarios required to determine who gets the final two playoff spots out of the 2A Greater St. Helens League.

Both the Monarchs and the Lumberjacks have identical 3-5 records. However, Mark Morris has an advantage in the league standings at 3-3, while R.A. Long is a game behind at 2-4. It also so happens that R.A. Long is tied with Columbia River, and as of right now the Jacks would be on the outside looking in due to a head-to-head loss suffered a few weeks back to the Rapids down in Vancouver when a comeback attempt ran out of time. Two of those teams are getting in and one is going home no later than Saturday, it’s just a matter of who.

Without bias let me note that a Mark Morris win would be the magic piece that solves the entire puzzle. In that circumstance the Monarchs would be the fourth seed and advance to Week 10 without further adieu.

"The focus is on us. We know we control our own destiny,” said Mark Morris coach Mike Peck. “We know there are a lot of variables out there but we know that if we win, we are in, and that is all we are focused on Thursday night.”