None of it has hit Tate Thompson yet.

The senior middle linebacker will be playing in both the MAIS Class AAAA, Division 2 state championship game at 2 p.m. Friday, as well as the final game of his high school career. It’s a lot to take in, and Thompson said he’s just ready for the game to kick off.

“It’s a little weird,” Thompson admitted. “I’ve been doing this since seventh grade, so it’ll be weird when this game is over, win or lose, knowing I’ll never put on those pads again.”

The Raiders (8-4) will take on Oak Forest Academy out of Amite, La., for AAAA, Division 2 supremacy, and in some sense, there’s a comfort that comes with knowing Friday’s game is the one that determines a state champion.

“It’s a big relief,” Thompson said. “We’ve been working all year for this single opportunity, we just have to take advantage of our opportunity. Our offense is very powerful, and our defense has to stop the run.”

Oak Forest makes a living off of running the ball, Raiders head coach Mac Barnes said, and despite the fact it’s no secret what the Yellowjackets will do, only three teams have beaten them this fall.

“They’re very much a running team with a big fullback,” Barnes said. “That’s their whole strength, their size and power. It’ll be a good matchup with our strength being how fast we our and them being strong.”

Because of that, Barnes said his defense would have to make sure to establish itself early against that power running game.

“If you let that fullback get going, it’s not good,” Barnes said. “We definitely want to take away the dive from their offense, so we’ve been working on that. Our linemen aren’t that big, but they’re pretty quick, and they play hard, too. They worked hard during the offseason, so they’re strong. It’s not a tremendous mismatch (in size), either — just like we’re not that much faster than them, but that’s our strength, and that’s their strength, and you definitely want to take away the other team’s strength when you play them; otherwise, they’ll win.”

When the Yellowjackets come at the Raiders with their running game, Thompson said he and his teammates on defense would have to tough it out.

“They’re going to have big linemen and big backs, so you really just have to hit them and tackle them,” Thompson said. “You have to go low on their big guys and get off tackles.”

Two of Lamar’s last three games have come off bye weeks, which Barnes said has helped his team by allowing them to nurse injuries and make adjustments after quarterback Davis Harrison went down with a shoulder injury against East Rankin Academy. Joseph Hutchinson will start at quarterback for Lamar Friday, with Harrison serving as a receiver and defensive back.

“Even though we got him back, he’s still not 100 percent, so we have to use him wisely,” Barnes said. “He has to play defense all of the time, just because of what they run, since he’s one of our best tacklers. Those two open weeks helped us get the other guys ready to play and (learn) what we’re good at. I don’t think there’s any question that it helped.”

Thompson said he has a pretty good idea of when it will finally sink in that he and his teammates are going to state.

“I think it’ll hit us on our way there with the police escort,” Thompson said. “Everyone will come to the realization that this is it, this is our chance.”

Once the game is underway, though, Thompson said the nerves should go away.

“After the first kickoff, everyone will go back to normal.”