CHAPMANVILLE — A week before the playoffs are to begin across the state of West Virginia there couldn’t be a bigger game around than Friday night’s Chapmanville-Point Pleasant game.

The Tigers and Black Knights are virtually even.

Chapmanville enters the contest ranked 12th in the state in Class AA with a 6-3 overall mark and 2-2 record in the Cardinal Conference.

Point Plea-sant is rated 10th with an identical record of 6-3, 2-2.

You don’t have to do all of the number crunching to figure out that the winner will have a more favorable seed than the loser.

Win or lose, both teams are expected to have enough points to finish in the top 16 and reach the post-season.

Chapmanville is looking to lock up its third straight playoff berth.

The Tigers have already secured their fourth winning season in a row.

Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Chapmanville’s Tiger Stadium.

This will mark the third straight week the Tigers have taken part in a game that had playoff implications. Two weeks ago, Chapmanville went to Wayne County and upended then No. 14-ranked Tolsia, 33-16. Then last week, Chapmanville returned to Wayne County but lost 42-17 to the No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Wayne Pioneers.

The writing is on the wall.

This is a pretty big game in Tiger Town.

“It’s a big game. It’s a big game for positioning,” Chapmanville coach George Barker said. “I don’t think either of us can get in the top eight. It’s going to depend on the luck of the draw and who you will get in the first round.”

Barker said the Black Knights have a solid ground game and program.

“Point Pleasant has been a pretty good football team the last couple of years,” he said. “They’ve always had a pretty good football program. They’re a very physical team. They have a lot of players. They have a real big fullback and they kind of grind it out and run it at you.”

Point Pleasant, which beat Chapmanville in last year’s regular season finale at home, is led by senior running back Nathan Roberts, who has 1,361 yards rushing on 166 carries.

Black Knights’ sophomore quarterback Eric Roberts, Nathan Roberts’ brother, has passed for 564 yards this season, including 98 yards on 6-for-10 completions in a 33-8 league victory over Herbert Hoover last week. Point Pleasant has had all of its success this season without all-state tailback Allan Wasonga, who transferred to Parkersburg this past summer.

“I think Point’s quarterback is pretty good, too,” Barker said. “They use running the game to set up with play-action pass. The thing about them is that they are very good defensively. They held Hoover to eight points and I don’t think anyone has held them to under 20 points all year. They’re pretty tough and they’ve gotten better throughout the year. Sissonville beat them in Week 2 and they’ve gotten a lot better since then. We have to move the ball offensively and keep the ball away from them as much as possible and try to win the battle with possessions.”

The Tigers were hit hard the last couple of weeks with the flu and it hurt the team’s preparations with Wayne as 17 players missed practices.

This week, Chapmanville seems to be in much better shape.

However, sophomore tailback and speedster Dylan Wiley, one of Chapmanville quarterback Josh Easterling’s favorite deep threats this season, may be out for Friday night’s contest with an injured leg. He left the Wayne game in the second quarter last week.

“We just have a kid or two out with the flu this week,” Barker said. “But Wiley hasn’t practiced this week. He’s very questionable for the game. He had a bruise right above his knee. He bruised it two weeks ago and tried to play against Wayne. Then he took another pop on it and just couldn’t go. We just don’t know what his status will be. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. We’re making adjustments to play without him. Naturally, we would like to have him.”

Friday night will also be Senior Night for Chapmanville as CRHS will honor its 12th-grade players Scooter Farley, Todd Terry, Nick Conley, Jon Casto, David Kovalkevich, William Milburn and Drew Smith.

Terry accounted for all of Chapmanville’s 17 points last week as he kicked a 29-yard field goal, had a 67-yard TD run, caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Easterling and also reeled in a two-point conversion pass. For the game, Terry had 18 carries for 184 yards.

Barker said Chapmanville’s senior class has accomplished a lot and has helped get Tiger football on the map. The seniors have played on a winning team all four years. As sophomores in 2007, the group were members of Chapmanville’s team which won the school’s first-ever playoff game with an 18-14 victory over the Keyser Golden Tornado.

“These kids have been on winning teams all through high school,” Barker said. “They’ve been around, they have had success and they’ve played some good football. Hopefully, they can rub off on our lower classmen. Casto, Terry and Farley have had great careers.”