WEST POINT — Like every prep football team across the country, West Point’s primary preseason goal was to make the playoffs. And, following an up, then down, then up again fall, the Warriors were successful in doing just that, earning an extra game for the first time since 2008.

But the Maroon and White don’t want just one extra game. No, they’d rather send their several seniors out with a deep run, starting with a first-round upset at Parker Friday at 7 p.m.

Second-year head coach Don Farley has seen his team answer about every challenge he’s thrown its way this season. As West Point (7-3) prepares to make its Class 5A playoff debut, Farley is hopeful his kids are up for answering at least one more.

“We’re excited to be in it, but we’re not just going down there to be in the playoffs,” he said. “We’re going down there to compete.

“Underdog or favorite, everybody’s 0-0. It’s a one-game season for everybody.”

If competition is what the Warriors seek, they’re sure to get it against a Parker bunch sitting pretty at No. 5 in the state rankings. The Thundering Herd capped off a 9-1 regular season with a 13-0 shutout that saw Central-Tuscaloosa muster only 5 passing yards and 105 overall.

Such low statistics haven’t been customary for West Point’s Bryant Farley throughout a fruitful four-year career at quarterback. Fresh off a four-touchdown explosion in a shortened Senior Night outing, Farley feels the Warriors can keep the momentum going by executing and sticking to the coaching staff’s gameplan.

The usual contributions from running back Kobe Smith and receiver Will Wrenn, who combined for five scores last Friday against Priceville, would also be more than welcome against a unit coach Farley simply described as “stingy.”

“We’re going to look for our playmakers to step up and see what happens against that defense,” he said. “It’s going to be a good challenge, but we’ve faced good defenses all year.”

Two of the best defenses West Point faced belonged to East Limestone and J.O. Johnson, which, along with Russellville, were the only teams to beat the Warriors. For its part, Russellville runs a similar offense to what the Maroon and White expect to see from Parker.

“We’ve been able to gauge those three opponents, which were three losses, but they’re not bad losses if they can steer us in a direction for a win on Friday night,” coach Farley said. “They’ll be losses we learned from, and that’s what we’ve wanted to do.”

The Thundering Herd are motored on offense by quarterback Tommie Neely and tailback Solomon Muhammad. The tandem was balanced in Parker’s regular season finale, but Farley said he wouldn’t be surprised if Neely is called on to make 30-40 throws.

Levi Laney is confident no matter whether the Herd choose to go through the air or the ground. He, Wrenn and Blake Yearwood have been more than solid in pass coverage — the former pair each had a pick a week ago — and Trent Campbell and Ryder Jones have been consistently disruptive at defensive end.

“We don’t care who we play,” Laney said. “We think our defense has got a good chance to do their job against anyone we play and win.”

Like Laney with who West Point lines up against, Wrenn doesn’t put much stock into where the Warriors play their games.

The Maroon and White’s road record is identical to Parker’s home mark at 4-1. West Point’s lone loss was a 31-7 affair at East Limestone, while the Herd’s was a 38-26 upset dished out by Dora in the second-to-last week of the regular season.

“We’ve always had great support, whether we’re playing here or away,” Wrenn said. “That’s been in every sport all the way growing up, so I feel like it’ll be a home game for us. Our fans will bring it for us.”

Lance Ray returned from a broken hand last week, and Jordin Skinner, who was out versus Priceville, will be available for the first round. Delton Cooke and Sawyer Currington remain sidelined with broken legs, though coach Farley said he’d “love to play long enough to see if we can give Delton a chance to come back.”

So would Laney.

“We’ve been doing this since first grade together, most of us seniors,” he said. “To think it could be our last time is kind of scary. I’ve been thinking all week this could be our last practice. You never know, so we’ve got to go out and give it everything we’ve got.

“But it ain’t our last practice. We’ve got many more.”