This Friday’s game will decide where Fort Dale plays their first playoff game.

The scenario is simple: win and the Eagles will host Morgan Academy. Lose, and Fort Dale will travel to Tuscaloosa Academy.

“Tuscaloosa is probably the best team on the other side,” said head coach Speed Sampley. “They lost to Bessemer early, which caused them to be the second seed, but they’re playing very good football.”

However, the Eagles’ destination is ultimately in their own hands.

“It’s all up to us,” Sampley said. “We don’t need any help from anyone else, we don’t need any point spreads – we just need to beat Lee-Scott to control our own destiny.”

It seems that Fort Dale is in for a challenge against the Warriors.

Both teams come in with a 6-2 record, and Sampley said the Eagles will need to be on top of their game.

“They have an excellent kicking game,” he said. “They win the field position battle in every game they play. We’ve got to be really, really solid in ours. We’ve got to cover kickoffs well, and not do things like miss extra points.”

Sampley also talked about Robert Maddox, Lee-Scott’s head coach, who coached at Troy before Larry Blakeney.

“He does a great job of coaching,” Sampley said. “We’ve got to play solid defense and make them earn everything. If we don’t execute on offense, they’ll stuff us.”

“We’ve got to play well,” he added.

Kickoff against Lee-Scott is set for 7 p.m. Friday night at Fort Dale.