It’s already been quite a season for the Thorsby football team—possibly the best season in school history, actually—but the Rebels aren’t ready for it to end just yet.

Thorsby on Friday will make its first playoff appearance since 2003 and a win would give this year’s team the most victories in school history, but coach Billy Jackson said he isn’t concerned about his players getting caught up in the excitement and forgetting the preparation during the week that necessarily precedes a strong performance on Friday night.

“The senior group we’ve got, they just love to play,” Jackson said. “I think they’re so excited about getting a chance to play another week that they’re not worried about anything else.”

If the Rebels (8-2) are going to play even another week, they’ll have to play better against Providence Christian (7-3) on Friday than they did in a 40-20 loss to Horseshoe Bend on Oct. 29.

THS committed five turnovers in the game, three on special teams.

“You don’t win many games with five turnovers. I think our kids played as hard as they could…We just made too many errors at the end to win,” Jackson said. “We all wanted to finish 9-1 so the guys were a little upset. This week’s game will depend on how we can get over a loss last week and get back to work.”

Thorsby hosts a Providence Christian team that has already set a school record for wins in a season with seven.

Granted, the program has only been around since 2006, but the Eagles have made the playoffs three out of five years, giving them more playoff experience than Thorsby.

“We can’t afford to take anybody lightly around here,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to play—we’ve got to compete.

Don’t look for competitiveness to be a problem for the Rebels, not with so much at stake.

“I don’t think they’ll take it lightly,” Jackson said. “We’ve been telling them all year long that they’ve got a chance to do something special.”