The stage is now set for a showdown next Saturday night at Miami Trace High School with the championship in the Frontier Athletic Conference on the line between the two Fayette County rivals.

The Miami Trace Panthers had to take care of their business Friday night in a Frontier Athletic Conference game against the Chillicothe Cavaliers.

The Panthers entered the game tied with the Washington Blue Lions for first place in the FAC both with records of 7-1.

Miami Trace withstood 11 three-point field goals made by Chillicothe to post a 50-47 victory.

While that game was going on, Washington was taking care of business, trouncing the Hillsboro Indians, 77-53.

It was a relatively low-scoring first quarter and first half, for that matter, at MTHS Friday.

The game was tied, 10-10 at the end of the first quarter and Miami Trace was in front, 17-15 at the half.

The third quarter was crucial for Miami Trace, as the Panthers outscored Chillicothe, 20-14.

Miami Trace led going into the final period, 37-29.

The Panthers led early in the fourth quarter by as many as 12 points.

The Cavaliers hit five threes in the fourth quarter and pulled to within three points (50-47) with 1:36 to play in the game.

The Panthers missed two field goal attempts to go up by five.

Chillicothe got the ball back and called time out with 39.4 seconds remaining.

The Cavaliers may have taken a bit too long to get a good look, or it might have been the Miami Trace defense that caused Chillicothe to hold the ball until the Panthers committed just their third foul of the second half with 7.1 seconds to play.

After a Chillicothe time out, the Cavs got a shot off in hopes of tying the game, but it was no good and Miami Trace rebounded, sealing the victory to improve to 8-1 in the FAC, 15-2 overall.

Miami Trace senior Andrew Guthrie shared game high-scoring honors with Chillicothe senior Tre King, each with 16 points. Guthrie led the Panthers with nine rebounds.

Junior Bryson Osborne had 12 points (including two threes). Senior Isaiah Reisinger scored 10 points, hitting three threes.

Junior Cayden Lee had 12 points and senior Mason Siberell scored 10. Lee had two threes and Siberell had three.

“Pat (Chillicothe head coach Beard) and I had our battles on the girls’ side and it’s been no different (now that both are coaches of their respective boys teams),” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “Last year we split and this year we’ve been lucky to escape (with the win) both times.”

The Washington Blue Lions and Miami Trace Panthers will battle for the FAC championship Saturday evening, Feb. 4.

The schedule of games for Washington at Miami Trace on Feb. 4 features the boys freshman game at 1:30 p.m.

Then follows the j-v girls game at 3 p.m., the j-v boys game at 4:30 p.m., the girls varsity game at 6 p.m. and the FAC championship game at 7:30 p.m.

Times for the final four of the above games are approximate.

“We’ve been preparing for Washington Court House since the day after (the Blue Lions defeated the Panthers, 74-53 on Dec. 17),” Ackley said. “We’re playing for a championship and we want this to be a championship program.

“We have nothing but respect for Washington Court House,” Ackley said. “They’re a great club with a lot of weapons. We told our kids when they beat us, bad, that we had to take care of our business so that the next time we played them, it meant something, and they’ve done that.”

In one other FAC game Friday, Jackson defeated the McClain Tigers, 70-39.

Jackson goes to 6-3 in the FAC, 8-8 overall.

McClain falls to 0-9 in the conference, 4-14 overall.

Miami Trace will play at Waverly Saturday night with the j-v game starting at 6 p.m.

The Panthers host Waynesville Tuesday with the freshman game starting at 4:45 p.m.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT 10 7 20 13 — 50

C 10 5 14 18 — 47

MIAMI TRACE — Shay Salyers 0-0-0; Trey Robinette 0-0-0; Grant Guess 0-0-0; Coleden May 1-0-2; Brady Armstron 0-0-0; Isaiah Resinger 0 (3)-1-10; Austin Boedeker 1-0-2; Bryson Sheets 2-0-4; Andrew Guthrie 4-2-16; Adam Guthrie 2-0-4; Bryson Osborne 3 (2)-12. TOTALS — 16 (5)-3-50. Free throw shooting: 3 of 4 for 75 percent. Three-point field goals: Reisinger, 3; Osborne, 2. Field goal shooting: 21 of 58 for 36 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 17 for 29 percent. Rebounds: 33 (14 offensive). Turnovers: 5. Assists: 13. Steals: 5. Blocked shots: 2. Fouls: 6.

CHILLICOTHE — Juan Miller 0-0-0; Cayden Lee 3 (2)-0-12; Caden Eblin 0 (1)-0-3; Cooper Stoneking 0 (2)-0-6; Mason Siberell 0 (3)-1-10; Cam Badger 0-0-0; Tre King 3 (3)-1-16. TOTALS — 6 (11)-2-47. Free throw shooting: 2 of 5 for 40 percent. Three-point field goals: Siberell, 3; King, 3; Lee, 2; Stoneking, 2; Eblin. Field goal shooting: 17 of 45 for 38 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 11 of 29 for 38 percent. Turnovers: 12. Offensive rebounds: 10.