White Plains coach Heath Harmon can envision a day when his Wildcats line up against Wellborn with more at stake than just a playoff berth.

It might seem like crazy talk for two teams with a combined record of 7-9, but each team is on the rise.

Harmon is in his second year guiding the Wildcats, a team that has made plenty of strides. Jeff Smith returned to his alma mater Wellborn, and has one team standing in the way of a first-year playoff berth.

The teams will square off Friday night with the Class 3A, Region 5's final playoff spot on the line.

"I don't think one game defines a program," Harmon said. "We're here for the long run, and we're doing things on purpose to build our program, but this is a huge game between two teams trying to get on track. It might be for bigger things in the future. There are a lot of parallels and both programs are heading in the right direction.

"(Wellborn) played a couple of 4A teams for non-region, or they could probably have had two more wins. We feel like we've gotten better as the year has gone along, and they've certainly gotten better."

The Panthers (3-5, 3-3) have won three of their past five games after starting the season 0-3. They pulled off a road upset of heavily favored Tarrant a week ago. The Wildcats (4-4, 2-4) played Tarrant tough two weeks ago, but came up short.

A Panthers win would give them the last berth outright.

"It's a big one," Smith said.

A White Plains win would create a three-way tie among the Wildcats, Wellborn and Tarrant. Harmon said he thought a win would give his team the playoff spot via complicated tiebreakers.

"We're treating it as if we win, we're in," Harmon said.

The Panthers put themselves in position with the big win over Tarrant.

"We went into that game at Tarrant, and they've got a good football team," Smith said. "It was on the road, fall break and their homecoming and that's a tough place to play, but our kids stayed focused and won the game. We played with a lot of heart."

The Panthers have flourished behind the strong rushing attack of junior Delrickus Rhoden, who has rushed for 811 yards and 10 touchdowns on 181 carries. Bobby White has also helped out there, rushing for 322 yards and four scores. Freshman Judd Smith has manned the offense at quarterback.

Center Chase Cooper, linebackers Dalton Carroll and White and safety Dalton Screws are among the players who have been solid for the Panthers.

"We set the playoffs as a goal before the season started," Smith said. "We started June 21, and we've worked from that point. We've really tried to focus on getting better.

"There's no secret how to win. You've got to work and stick to your guns. These kids in every position have improved. They're an easy bunch to coach. They're really eager to learn and work to get better."

Smith said he wants this win for more than just his team.

"Football means a lot out here," he said. "There's a lot of tradition at Wellborn. Our community has been through a lot. I see our program as a big uniting source of this community."

On the other side, Harmon is trying to build a program at White Plains, a school that has never sustained success in football.

"The kids aren't used to October games mattering," Harmon said. "It was big for the program to have a game where we thought it was that big of a game (Tarrant), and now, we're doing it for Wellborn.

"It's big for our program because that's were we want to be — in situations where games late in the year mean something."

The Wildcats have been led by Konner Amis, Brock Wright and Dylan McGuffie offensively, as well as a defense that has played tough consistently in the past few games.

"We're excited about where we are and where we're heading," Harmon said.