In a perfect world, I would have written a preview for a fourth-round NCHSAA playoff game. But in this part of the metaverse, I took a day off on Wednesday, ate a borderline obscene amount of turkey on Thursday and slept in on Friday morning.

So, a mere six hours or so from kickoff, you get game notes for Hoggard’s visit to Cleveland tonight in the 4A East Playoffs.

Records: Cleveland 13-0; Hoggard 12-1

Recent history: Cleveland won at Hoggard, 28-20, in the season opener for both teams back in August. The Rams built a 22-7 lead before the Vikings rallied to get within 2 at 22-20, but Sawyer Lowe’s 34-yard interception return for a score sealed the deal with about 3:35 left in regulation.

Ask the computers: The Simmons Ratings have Cleveland as a six-point favorite while the Massey Ratings go a little higher at Cleveland -9.5.

When Cleveland has the ball: Jackson Byrd is 229-329 (69.6 percent) on the season with 36 touchdowns and nine INT. He’s also the second-leading rusher with 403 yards and 11 more scores. Tyson Stokes is at exactly 1,000 yards on 151 carries (6.1 YPC) and has 17 scores.

The receiving corps is pretty good, too:

Reagan Printy paces the Vikings with 159 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss and four sacks. Malakahi West has 11.5 sacks on the season and Josiah Gillespie has six interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries for a Vikings unit that’s allowing under 10 points per game. In fact, Cleveland’s 28 points was the season high in points allowed with no one else topping 18.

When Hoggard has the ball: Hudson Wilharm has completed 72.3 percent of his passes for 1,830 yards, 19 touchdowns and just two interceptions. M’kel Bellamy is the chairman of a committee approach at running back with 643 yards and 18 scores. Aniziyon Session is the leading receiver with 34 grabs for 629 yards and nine scores.

The aforementioned Lowe is the leading tackler for Cleveland with 132 while Landon Inscoe is also in triple digits with 104 (5 INT as well). Six Rams have at least five sacks, topped by Karson Cook’s eight.

The Rams defense allows just over 10 points a contest and has forced 30 turnovers, piled up 215 tackles for loss as a unit and has held more than half of its opponents (7) to single digits.

Intangibles: Neither team has lost since that warm night in August, and Hoggard hasn’t even been in a close game since a win over Wallace-Rose Hill on Sept. 1. Cleveland, by its lofty standards, stumbled a little out of the gate this season, played well in the middle of the season and needed a Hail Mary to edge Clayton in the regular season finale. But last week’s demolition of the (on-field) defending 4A state champions, New Bern, tells you all you need to know about the sort of form the Rams are in at the moment.

On the air: This is the JoCo Sports Game of the Week, and we’ll be on the air at 7:15.