After a heartbreaking loss to Carencro last week, the pressure is on the Sulphur Tors as they enter the final two games of the high school football regular season.

The Tors (3-5, 1-4) occupy the final spot in the Non-select Division I playoffs at No. 28 in the power ratings. Today’s game at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium in Sulphur against District 3-5A rival Barbe and next week’s road game at Lafayette are essentially must-win games.

“That one is going to sting for a long time, but you’ve got to move on to the next weekend,” Sulphur head coach Cody Gueringer said about the loss to the Bears. “I thought our kids have done a really good job of that, obviously.

“The last four games I told the kids we have to go 2-2. You have to win two of these games at least, and so losing to Carencro last week was pretty heartbreaking, but it was also heartbreaking knowing it makes these two games even more pivotal. But hey, pressure busts pipes or makes diamonds, so I’m all for it.”

The Bucs (5-3, 3-2) playoff picture is opposite the Tors at No. 14 in the power ratings after winning back-to-back games over New Iberia and Lafayette. The Bucs cruised past the Tors 31-0 last year but recently that hasn’t been the norm in the series. Six of the last eight games were decided by seven or fewer points. The Tors won three of the previous four by a combined six points from 2018 to 2023.

“They are playing good ball right,” Barbe head coach Skeet Owens said of the Tors. “They had Carencro beat and they beat New Iberia.

“They are converting third downs. They are looking better on both sides of the ball. It is going to be a great challenge. Records don’t matter. This is gonna be two teams getting after it.”

Gueringer said he wants more consistent scoring through more dominance at the line and fewer penalties.

“We have to understand angles, block well in space and play the game the right way,” Gueringer said. “We scored a few points in many instances, and so we have to understand how to control the line of scrimmage, and we’re doing so, but we can’t set ourselves back from a negative penalty or a negative play. That’s kind of what’s been our Achilles heel. We want to throw it on our terms, not on their terms. We want to be able to run the football on our terms.”

The Tors will face a Barbe defense that wrecked Lafayette last week with five turnovers. Jack Sonnier blocked a field goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown, and Elijah Matthews and Hayden Biessenberger had interceptions.

“I think our defense has been playing good ball, forcing turnovers,” Owens said. “You know, they’ve been pretty consistent.”

The Bucs like to score early to set the tempo. They scored 28 points in the first half in Week 7 and 21 last week in a 38-28 win over Lafayette. Quarterback Jelandon Gray has thrown for 1,279 yards and 13 touchdowns while running back Eric Jones and wide receiver Luke Leger have combined for 21 touchdowns and more than 1,600 total rushing and receiving yards.

“They’re an explosive offense,” Gueringer said. “They always are.

“And defensively, they fly around.

“So we just have to be able to tackle in space, regardless of who’s at tailback, and then be able to really understand their concepts and what they’re doing. Their first few drives, they’re really going to try to exploit what they’ve seen on film, and that’s a kudos to their staff over there on the offensive side.”