The Straughn Tigers got the playoff season started on Thursday night when they traveled up to Centreville to take on the Bibb County Choctaws. The Choctaws entered the playoffs as a No. 1 seed after winning the Class 4A, Region 4 championship. Straughn entered as a No. 4 seed with a fourth place finish in Region 2.

It was a defensive battle from the opening kickoff until the final whistle sounded on a 7-6 Tiger victory.

On more than one occasion, the Tigers had their backs against the wall with the Choctaws threatening to score. Each time, however, the Tigers defense rose to the occasion and left the Choctaws wondering what went wrong.

Straughn’s game-winning touchdown came in the third quarter when Barrett Bush connected with Riley Eiland for a 71-yard score. Eiland caught the ball coming across the middle of the field and then split two defenders on his way to the end zone.

The Choctaws looked like they were going to tie the game up in the fourth after an 11-yard touchdown from their quarterback, but a missed extra point would turn out to be the difference in the game.

With the win, Straughn will host Munford on Friday. Munford entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in Region 3 finishing behind No. 2-ranked Leeds. However, Munford did beat Leeds 49-48 during the regular season for Leeds only region loss of the season. Mumford finished the season with a 7-3 record.

Last Friday, Munford took on Region 1 No. 2 seed W.S. Neal in the opening round of the playoffs and Munford came away with a 20-0 win.