By: RHETT MANUEL
Sports Editor
BASILE – Postseason play is normally associated by fans with the unfamiliar.
It’s the chance to travel to that far-flung town you’d never go to on your own accord.
It’s that hole-in-the-wall, mom-and-pop establishment that only locals can direct you towards.
It’s film study and learning the ins-and-outs of a team rarely seen.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, for the Basile Bearcats they get none of that fun this Friday night.
After a 9-1 regular season that rewarded them with a first-round bye as Division IV’s No. 4-seed in the non-select bracket, Basile will host a familiar and local rival this Friday in the Oberlin Tigers.
The District 5-1A foes played in week 7, also at Basile’s Hanson Field, and Basile won comfortably by a 35-13 margin.
Still, the bar and stakes are raised now that it’s the postseason and with it comes a new excitement.
“It’s a good thing because the communities are so close together that we’re looking at a good crowd and an exciting atmosphere,” Basile head coach Kevin Bertrand said. “It’s district all over again, but with more serious implications. It’s the playoffs, and you never know. You can’t say there’s next week to get better or you’ll be sitting at home.
“So, it’s a nice layer to add to an already good rivalry.”
Basile though, despite the familiar foe, enters this game in an unusual spot. Coming off of a bye week, it would be easy to fall out of the routing of a game week and potentially fall off of good habits established through 10 weeks of football.
Bertrand’s squad was business as usual, but used the bye week as a chance to get back to basics in a lot of ways.
“We wanted to stay on routine,” Bertrand said. “But it was more about us and doing what you do at the beginning of the year. It was about shoring it up. You don’t pay as much attention to the little things in season because you’re always preparing for another team.”
It’s an approach that Bertrand believes will benefit his team throughout the postseason should the Bearcats make a run.
“Any team that wins in the postseason will be the one that is fundamentally sound and disciplined,” Bertrand said. “We’re hoping it’ll help us to move forward. Not only that, but it sort of helped us relax our brains.
“It’s hard to keep that intensity and focus for that long. We wanted to have a little fun last week, but we also wanted to get the work done. Because of that, I’m finding that our focus and energy levels are sky-high this week.”
Still though, it’s difficult to beat any team twice. So, as is Bertrand’s custom, he’s treating this week as the most important one so far. Which it is.
“We’re treating this like it’s the first time seeing them,’ Bertrand said. “We haven’t even mentioned the past month or so. We’re focused on what we’ve seen the past few weeks. I think in our mindset, it’s a matter of being prepared for Oberlin this week in Week 12.”
June 20, 2026
