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The Zion Chapel Rebels (2-5, 1-4) are back on the road this week for a Class 2A, Region 2 game against the Cottonwood Bears (3-4, 2-3) on Thursday night.

The game was originally scheduled for Oct. 14 but due to the ongoing official shortage in the state, it was moved to Thursday night instead. The short turnaround for the Rebels comes on the heels of a 34-12 region loss to Geneva County last week.

Meanwhile, Cottonwood is coming off a 35-28 shootout loss to GW Long last week. Cottonwood lost after giving up a touchdown in the final minute of the game. The Bears rolled up more than 400 yards against the Rebels but also gave up more than 400 yards passing and over 500 total yards.

Zion Chapel’s Morgan Sanders has over 500 yards rushing this season but has also made some plays in the passing game over the past couple of weeks, including nearly 150 yards passing and two touchdowns last week. That success through the air will likely need to continue against Cottonwood to give the Rebels a chance this week.

Along with Sanders’ two passing touchdowns against Geneva County, both Joseph LeGear and Layton Grantham caught touchdown passes. Sanders and Micah Fuller also had interceptions against Geneva County.

While the Rebels are not technically eliminated from playoff contention in Region 2, the Rebels would need to win out and get some help from some other schools to capture the fourth and final spot in the playoffs. Cottonwood currently holds the edge for that fourth spot, alongside Abbeville.

So far this season, Cottonwood holds region wins over Abbeville and Samson but has fallen to Ariton, GW Long and Wicksburg. Cottonwood also lost a non-region game to Northside Methodist and defeated Graceville (Fla.) in a non-region game.

Cottonwood has owned the all-time series with Zion Chapel, holding a 5-0 record since 1985. The two sides met for the very first time in a playoff game in 1985, a 33-0 Bear win. The next four contests were regular season region games in 2002, 2003, 2020 and 2021. In those four games, Cottonwood has outscored Zion Chapel 185-69 and has scored more than 41 points in each of those games. Cottonwood defeated the Rebels 54-28 last season.

Zion Chapel and Cottonwood will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Hicks Stadium in Cottonwood.