MAN — Saturday night’s regular season finale between Man and Matewan have playoff implications written all over it.

Man (8-1), which has dropped into a second-place tie with Madonna and has fallen behind new No. 1 Richwood in this week’s Class A Computer Ratings, would like to get back to No. 1 or at least hang on to the second spot, to ensure homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

A victory over Matewan might be enough to put Man back on top.

The Billies are looking forward to having their first home playoff game since 1997.

Matewan (5-3), on the other hand, is fighting for its very own playoff lives.

The Tigers are in a 15th-place tie in the Class A ratings this week with Calhoun County.

With the top 16 teams qualifying for the post-season, an upset victory by Matewan over Man would be enough to put the Tigers into the playoffs. A loss, on the other hand, could prove to be the knockout blow.

Man and Matewan are scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night at Man’s George A. Memorial Field.

The Tigers and Billies have not met on the football field in three years. The two played a spirited and often contentious see-saw rivalry earlier in the decade.

Man coach Harvey Arms said his team knows what is at stake.

“It’s crunch time now,” Arms said. “We’re looking for the best spot that we can get in the playoffs. You always want to be playing well as you head into the playoffs. This is a big game for us. We have to be focused and ready to play.”

The Billies have had an unusual week.

Last Friday, Man travelled to Buffalo hoping to play the Bison and get the team’s eighth victory of the season.

It would have to wait, however, as no officials showed up to call the game and the contest was rescheduled for this past Monday.

So Man loaded up the bus again and made the 100-mile return trek to northern Putnam County on Monday night. This time, the officials did show up and Man walked away with an easy 42-12 win.

“Anthing can happen,” Arms said, when asked about the problem with the officials at Buffalo. “We just had to deal with it the best that we could. We needed to play the game. We went back on Monday and our kids were still focused and ready to play against good competition. Luckily our game is on Saturday this week, so it really didn’t cost us any preparation time. Everything worked out in the end.”

Michael Lomax led the Billies at Buffalo with 12 rushes for 161 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 1 and 34.

Brandon Plymale, who made his return after sitting out the last two games due to a banged up knee and bronchitis, ran 11 times for 137 yards and also had two TDs on runs of 1 and 27.

Quarterback Ryan Crum completed 2-of-3 passes for 34 yards, including a 17-yard TD pass to Derrick Earnest. Evan Riggins had the other catch on a 17-yard grab.

“Lomax and Plymale each had outstanding games,” Arms said. “Derrick Lomax, the younger Lomax, and Andrew Hale also had about 50-60 yards each. We had an outstanding rushing game. Any time you have that kind of rushing game you give your backs credit but you also have to recognize what kind of job your offensive line did. You don’t get those kinds of yards without blocking up front. We think our guys up front usually dominate the line of scrimmage. This is what we look for in every game. When our backs got the holes they did what they had to do. They ran the ball hard and made some cuts. It worked out good for us.”

Matewan, coached by Yogi Kinder, are playing just nine games this season. Tigers blanked woeful Mount View, 32-0, last week at Welch.

The Tigers opened the season with a 36-12 win at Webster County, then got throttled 48-12 by the Golden Wave of Grundy, Va. Matewan bounced back with wins over Big Creek (42-0) and Tug Valley (34-12) before getting trounced by the Blackcats of Prestonsburg, Ky., 54-16. After an open date, Matewan won just 20-8 over an improved Burch team before getting hammered by Gilbert 52-20 on Oct. 23 at home.

Matewan is led by quarterback Jacob Staton, defensive specialist Cody Centers and running backs Justin Bradford and Tyler Gooslin. Bradford and Gooslin each had 81 yards rushing in the Burch game.

“They are a 5-3 team and this game is big for them also,” Arms said. “I’m not real good at crunching the numbers for the playoffs but I would assume they are looking to go into the playoffs, too. We think that they are going to be here fired up and ready to play. We know that every time we have played them before they have been a tough opponent. They play hard and they are well coached. We’re going to have to be up for the challenge.”