There is very little reason to believe the Brainerd football team stands a chance to win tonight at Giles County. To the Panthers, though, that's fine, because nobody has believed them all season.
Or as head coach Stanley Jackson said, "We're the last team standing. We just hope to stand a little longer."
The chips have been against the Panthers all season. They'll dress 24 players tonight, with only a handful of seniors on the roster. They're going on the road to face a team that won the Class 4A state championship in 2009 and is 8-3 this year.
With a 6-5 record, going on the road, Brainerd will enter the game as the underdog. It's a role the Panthers have embraced.
"We know that nobody wants us to make it," sophomore quarterback Sam Caffey said. "They're not studying us. But the thing is that all the people doubting us are outsiders and have no relevance to us.
"We just listen and believe in our coach."
Caffey has been important to the team's success. Listed on the early-season roster as a free safety, he worked his way into the quarterback position. His emergence has helped District 6-AA most valuable player Maleek Rooks help the team out in a variety of other ways.
"Sam is there now because he's matured," Jackson said. "We had a need for a backup quarterback, but we also had to develop one. With the numbers we had, we had to develop somebody for next year, but also for this year because we do have a good core coming back.
"We were reluctant to put [Sam] in there because of his ability. He's still not where we want him to be, but he's done a good job so far."
Caffey said he didn't expect to be the starting quarterback when the season began.
"I missed a lot of practice, and it took a while for me to commit to football," he said, "but I realized that football is my only way out.
"I've worked hard and hit the weight room hard. I know that every game I have to be tough, not give up, make the right reads and not make mistakes."
Caffey embodies what Brainerd football is now. He is one of a number of Panthers who plays all three ways - offense, defense and special teams. In fact, Jackson had to put a freshman in on punt return last week just so the coaching staff could convey information to the quarterback/linebacker.
"We might not have a lot of players, but we have a bond, and we just go play for each other," Caffey said. "It's like [Maleek] said: 'We've got heart. You can't teach that.'"
He's growing up at the quarterback position as well.
"My job is to play a good game and minimize my mistakes," he said.
Said Jackson: "We had to get Sam to understand that he needed to take advantage of what the defense gave him. He had to make the right reads and go through with his fakes. In football, you only have a second to make a read. He's learned how to made the right reads, and now he can tell pre-snap what the defense is in and what the coverage is."
With a bit of stability in the football program now, Jackson feels good about where the team is headed. The question was asked: "Just how do you keep doing it?"
"God and faith, man," he said. "The team believes in each other and they don't want to let each other down. I tell the guys that if God's for us, who can be against us? We're not perfect, we're not always right, but we don't quit. Football is life for some of these kids, and you can give in at times, but you can never give up."