Mason County travels to Grayson Friday to take on East Carter for a Class 3A region championship. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)

Mason County travels to Grayson Friday to take on East Carter for a Class 3A region championship. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

<p>The Mason County defense will look to continue their stingy play, allowing a Class 3A best 10.5 points per game this season. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)</p>

The Mason County defense will look to continue their stingy play, allowing a Class 3A best 10.5 points per game this season. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)

Two teams entering somewhat unfamiliar territory will face off when Mason County heads to Grayson on Friday to take on East Carter in a Class 3A Region Championship game.

The Royals haven’t been in a region title game since 2013 when they lost in back-to-back years to Bourbon County in 2012 and ‘13, haven’t won one since 2003 when Dustin Grutza was slinging passes to Chris Lofton.

As for the Raiders, the last time they’ve been in the state quarterfinals was 1983. Last week’s win over Ashland Blazer was the program’s first ever, the Raiders hoping to claim another first with a regional title on Friday with a win over the Royals.

Mason County enters with a 9-3 record, finally breaking through the Fleming County wall last week, snapping a nine-game losing streak to their border county rival and winning their first district title since 2013. They did it again with their defense, posting their third shutout of the season in an 8-0 victory. Since surrendering 63 points in back-to-back losses to Montgomery County and Tates Creek, the Royals have allowed just 56 points in their last nine games, going 8-1 in that stretch and boasting Class 3A’s best scoring defense allowing just 10.5 points per game.

“They’re athletic on defense and play extremely well in space,” Raiders coach Tim Champlin said. “Defensively they use that to their advantage, have done a good job of holding people to low scoring games and not allowing teams to have explosive plays on them. They’re never out of position, always in the right spots and it’s tough to block them.”

The Raiders come in with a 10-3 record, claiming the Class 3A, 7th District title with the likes of Ashland and Russell in it. They own victories over both teams this season, defeating Russell 42-29 on October 22 and Ashland last week, 26-16, avenging a 31-20 loss to the Tomcats on October 8.

East Carter benefited from a strong RPI resume throughout the season to have the game in Grayson. It’s an exciting time for Carter County, East as well as West Carter still playing, the Comets fighting for a Class 2A regional championship when they play at Middlesboro Friday.

“Very exciting time to be a football player in Carter County. East and West competing for regional championships, there’s been a lot of buzz around town and in the school system. We’re really excited to have this opportunity,” Champlin said.

The Royals defense figures to take on one of their toughest challenges yet, stopping Raiders back Charlie Terry. The senior running back has 1,558 rushing yards on the season to go with 28 touchdowns on 189 carries, ripping off 8.2 yards per carry every time he touches it.

”Their o-line is good, they open holes for him. He’s a stud though and can go to the house with it on any given play. We’ll have to gang tackle and run to the football in order to stop him,” Royals coach Joe Wynn said.

It’s not all Terry though, the Raiders capable of throwing it, Kanyon Kozeee 72-for-137 on the season for 1,131 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions. He can also tuck and run it, rattling off 354 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the season.

“He does a good job of getting the ball to the open guy and not forcing it. If it’s not there, he does a nice job tucking and running it,” Wynn said.

Mason County knows they need to sharpen up offensively in order to come out on top in this one. They left three drives in Fleming County’s red zone last week without points, missing two field goals and fumbling on the two-yard line the other time. Finishing drives is a must this late in the season.

“It’s huge, possessions are at a premium in the playoffs. If we play like we did last week offensively, we’ll get blown out. Each possession raises the bar and raises the stakes in the postseason. Like last week, a score early would be good for us and eliminate some pressure on that end,” Wynn said.

The Royals showed multiple looks last week, first going five-wide and Keshaun Thomas ripping off a 55-yard run to set up the Royals first and only score of the game last week.

Two other trips to the red zone were set up by Ashton Adams fade passes on a spectacular diving catch by Terrell Henry and Mason Butler ripping another snag out of the air. The Royals have shown a lot of diversity this season with 15 different players scoring touchdowns and no telling what’s coming with either Thomas or Adams at quarterback.

It does bring some concern for Champlin.

“They’ve got kids that can run, jump and catch all over the field. We’ve tried to mimic them and we need to do a good job of keeping them in front of us and capitalizing on miscues and turnovers,” Champlin said. “They’re a spread team by formations but they do stuff to get extra guys in the box and you have to devote to the passing game as well and contain it. We’ll have our hands full with how to balance on what to take away offensively. You can’t sell out and stop the run, you have to take both away and limit them and it will be a tall task for our defense this week.”

Should be another solid atmosphere with Mason County expected to bring a pep bus for the students on what is expected to be a chilly night, temperatures in the mid to upper 30’s at kickoff. But no rain is in the forecast and wind will not be a factor.

“It’s a small stadium so it will be crowded on the sidelines, in the end zones like last week so we have to focus on the game. We’re there to win a game, focus on the game, let the fans do the cheering. As huge as this game is for us, it’s huge for them, should be a great atmosphere in a cold game,” Wynn said.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

The two do have some common opponents this season, Montgomery County and Greenup County. The Royals lost 41-14 to Montgomery on August 27 while East Carter defeated the Indians 22-20 in the season opener on August 21. The Royals defeated Greenup County 35-7 on October 29, while East has a pair of wins over the Musketeers, 38-13 on October 15, 30-0 on November 5 in the opening round of the playoffs.

History is on the Royals side in this one, 16-8 all-time against the Raiders and have won 11 in a row. Their last meeting came in 2014, a 50-0 Royals victory in Maysville.

The winner of Friday’s contest will most likely see a different opponent next week. If Mason County wins, a trip to Louisville looms against Christian Academy-Louisville if CAL defeats Paducah Tilghman. If the Blue Tornado pull off the upset, the Royals would then play at the Glasgow-Bardstown winner in the state semifinals.

If East Carter wins, they’re looking at a trip to the Glasgow-Bardstown winner in the semis, if Tilghman beats CAL, the Raiders would then host the Belfry-Bell County winner next week.

GAMETRACKER

WHO: Mason County Royals (9-3) at East Carter Raiders (10-3)

WHEN: Friday, 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: East Carter High School, Grayson

PREVIOUS MEETING: Mason County won, 50-0 Sept. 26, 2014

ALL-TIME SERIES: Mason County leads 16-8