As cliche´ as it sounds but: it all comes down to this. The Sam Houston Broncos will travel up Hwy 171 to take on district rival DeRidder for a share of the District 5-4A championship.

St. Louis clinched a share of the title last week against Sam Houston to set up this week’s regular season finale between the Dragons and the Broncos.

 “It’s a big game,” said Broncos head coach Russ Sutherland. “It’s Week 10 and we still have an opportunity to get a share of the district championship. We have an opportunity to pretty much assure ourselves of a home playoff game if we can win it. We have a lot riding on this game.”

While the Broncos lone district loss came to the hands of St. Louis, DeRidder's only defeat of the year was against the Saints in Week 6.

“We’ve had a very exciting year, we just hope it’s not ready to stop,” said DeRidder head coach Eric Parmley. “Going into the season every team and every coaching staff would like to say that they don’t want to go into any ball game to get beat. As far as expectations, we wanted to do well and we thought we had a chance too.”

The Dragons have played excellent defense this year while giving up only 10 points per game on 199 yards of offense while scoring five defensive touchdowns and forcing two safeties.

“We know they are good on defense,” Sutherland said. “When you have given up very few points and scoring touchdowns on defense, that tells me that they are very good on defense.”

Parmley attributed the defensive play to aggressiveness with a good coaching staff and good players.

Along with the defense, the Dragons have an offense with a lot of weapons that can do damage on opposing defenses.

“I think you hit the nail on the head when you have a bunch of people to get the ball to,” Parmley said. “Each night it’s two or three of them, one or two, or three or four of them that have been able to do their job.”

The Dragons offense is led by seniors Stephen Richmond (RB), Samuel Peterson (QB), and Antonio Palmer (RB). Peterson has thrown for 600 yards this year with seven touchdowns and has run for another 303 yards for eight touchdowns. Palmer leads the Dragons with 609 yards rushing with two touchdowns while Richmond has ran for 390 yards and six touchdowns on the year.

“It’s probably the best team DeRidder has had in a long time,” said Sutherland on DeRidder. “They have a lot of starters back from last year and they have managed to keep them healthy.

“Thus far, they have had a great season. Defensively they are not giving up very many yards or points and offensively they do have some weapons. Samuel Peterson is a very good quarterback and they have several running backs that can get the job done.”

The Broncos are coming off one of their best offensive performances, but will have to get over the loss to St. Louis to get ready for the match up with DeRidder.

“It’s very disappointing.” Sutherland said on last week’s loss. “We felt like we let one get away. We missed some opportunities that we usually don’t miss.”

Sutherland looks for his team to come out with a hunger to lock up a share of the 5-4A championship and their first home playoff game since 2006.

“There’s two ways of looking at it,” Sutherland said. “Either we will be very hungry or we will have a hard time getting ourselves up for another big game. I’m think that our guys will be ready to play.”

One of the things that will help the Broncos in the regular season finale and the push through the playoffs is getting key people healthy again. Senior wide receiver Peter Rubin saw some action at the end of the game last week and will see more time this week at DeRidder. Also returning for Sam Houston this week will be defensive back Dyllon Johnson, offensive lineman Billy Sommers, and linebacker Jacob Marshall.

With two good teams in a rivalry game with a district title and playoff implications on the line, it should make out to be a great atmosphere for the last game of the 2009 regular season.

“It sure makes it nice for the fans,” Sutherland commented on the game. “I would rather have things locked up personally. But when you go into the year, you hope to be playing for something on Week 10. It’s not a whole lot of fun to be playing for pride. We certainly are not and we have a lot riding on this game.”

“I think it’s going to be very exciting,” Parmley said. “I’m proud and happy for the community, the school, and our football program to have this opportunity. We are looking forward to it.”

The game can be heard online at www.bigsamfootballboosters.com. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

NOTES: DeRidder is going to make the playoffs for the first time in 12 years and has a chance of hosting a first round playoff game. Sam Houston has won the past 13 meetings between the two schools.