The high school football season is down to the final week of the regular season, so Hamilton Christian and Elton don’t want to leave their postseason hopes up to chance.

Tonight’s winner at Cougar Stadium likely guarantees one team’s season continues. The loser will have to wait for the Louisiana High School Athletic Association to release the official brackets on Sunday.

After a winless 2022, Hamilton (5-4, 3-2) is ranked No. 22 in select Division IV and has to stay above the 24- team cutoff.

“A win will seal our fate, and that is the way we are looking at it,” Hamilton head coach Dexter Washington said. “Just the fact that we have an opportunity to go to the playoffs because nobody gave them a chance after last year.”

Elton (5-3, 3-2) is ranked No. 24 in nonselect Division IV, which uses a 28-team bracket.

“You want to go in (the playoffs), and we are both down there close and both with young teams,” Elton head coach Marcus Lejeune said. “We want to, just like them, get in the playoffs.

“We have five seniors, and we want them to go out on a good note. We are trying to finish 6-3, which would be the best record since I have been here, one up from last year.”

The Indians are coming off a bye week, but Lejeune sees it as a positive.

“Honestly, it wasn’t bad for us,” he said. “We had some bumps and bruises, and we had an extended period, so we could kind of get that right. You know small schools and low numbers, at the end of the year you are scratching for players to get in. That helped, and we got an extra week to prepare for Hamilton. There are pros and cons, but I thought that was better for us.”

Elton’s preferred offensive mode is its ground game, led by junior Tristan Leblanc (140- 1,249, 14 TDs).

“He is developing really well,” Lejeune said of Leblanc. “We have worked to develop that identity with the run game. We have a young quarterback, so he has come a long way too.

“We rely on our run game to carry us. Tristan has had a good year. He is banged up a little bit, so hopefully this week we can continue to get that moving.”

While Hamilton relied heavily on freshman quarterback Javon Vital, until he missed three consecutive games with an injury. In his absence, several seniors have stepped up, especially Sammy Knight. He moved from wide receiver to quarterback and ran for eight touchdowns in the last four games and six through the air. Vital returned last week and slid into the receiver spot to catch six passes for 144 yards and three scores.

“Playing those early district games without Javon was very important,” Washington said. “I was telling this to somebody today, what it did was — without him on the field — it made the senior class have to step up and make plays, and it worked out to our advantage.

“As he came back on Friday night, everybody was more involved, and he was also involved. The guy is just a God-gifted kid.”

Elton will focus on stopping the Warriors’ explosive plays. Hamilton averaged 15.6 yards a play in a 54-44 win over East Beauregard last week.

“We have to limit those guys and big plays,” Lejeune said. “Last week, they had a bunch of big plays. They can drive the length of the field. We have to put pressure on them to be disciplined enough to run their offense. When we get the ball, we have to be disciplined enough to run ours for long drives.”

Elton won last year’s meeting 57-16.

“Elton is a scary team,” Washington said. “You saw that they beat East Beau. I have seen some film on them. We are going into the game like it is our last. It is homecoming. We are going to play like we are really playing for something.

“We have had a couple of good days of practice. We are not going to let the homecoming distract us.”

Elsewhere

Leesville (6-3, 4-0) goes into Week 10 on a four-game win streak and needs a win at Rayne (6-2, 2-2) to wrap up the District 3-4A championship outright. The Wampus Cats shared the title last year with Eunice.

In Class 4A, DeRidder (5-4, 2-2) has a chance to earn a home game in the first round if they can jump three spots with a win at Washington-Marion (1-8, 0-4). The Dragons are .15 out of the 16th spot in nonselect Division II.

South Beauregard (3-6, 0-5) sits in the last spot in nonselect Division III and needs a road win over District 3-3A rival Westlake (3-6, 0-5) to keep its hopes alive.

Jennings (7-2, 4-1) and St. Louis Catholic (7-2, 4-1) will battle at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium in Sulphur with a top-10 seed for both teams a possibility. Jennings is No. 8 in nonselect Division II, while the Saints are the No. 7 team in select Division II.

Sam Houston (6-3, 5-2) could get a boost in the power ratings if it can close out the regular season with a win over Southside (7-2, 5-2). The Broncos are No. 14 in nonselect Division I while the Sharks are No. 11. Four of the Broncos’ last five opponents have been ranked or receiving votes in the Louisiana Sports Writers Association polls.