Have you ever witnessed 44 players from four teams fighting for fourth place on one football field?

    That tongue-twister is actually an understatement of what’s to be expected at South Sound Stadium Tuesday night, as it plays host to a five-way, Evergreen 2A Conference, Kansas tie-breaker.

    Aberdeen, Centralia, Elma, Hoquiam and River Ridge all recorded 2-5 conference records this season, and will face off in a tournament that will decide the No. 4 seed in the District IV playoffs — taking place Friday.

    “It’s going to be an awesome experience and there’s going to hopefully be a lot of people there,” Tiger coach John Schultz said. “One game will be played on each end and it should be fun.”

    The original format of the Washington State’s second-ever football conference tie-breaker to include five teams, Schultz said, was that one team would be given a bye while the other four play pigtail games before a bracket or pool would be formed. That idea was nixed, Schultz said, after the Tigers received the bye.

    “I’m not sure what we’re doing now,” Schultz said. “We drew the bye. Elma, River Ridge, Hoquiam and  Aberdeen do not want (the possibility) to play just one game and be done.

    “Now they’re talking about some sort of round robin or double elimination deal,” he added.

    All five teams will be represented at 6:30 p.m. tonight in Elma to determine the official format of the event.

    “Someone has to have a bye because there’s five teams,” he said. “There’s really going to be three byes (if it takes on a new format). If someone will lose in that pigtail game, they’ll have a chance to work their way though the bracket.”

    In one of the rarest occurrences in high school football, Centralia — and the other four teams — will have had just one day of practice to prepare for the currently unknown opponents and high-pressure situations.

    “It’s hard to prepare for four teams in one day,” Schultz said. “Especially when you don’t know which team you’re playing. We’re going to have practice (tonight) and meet with the team.”

    One thing Schultz is looking to take advantage of is the 10-minute break between games.

    “It will give us time to be able to work with our guys and tell them what they need to know,” he said.

    In the tie-breaker, each team will be given an opportunity to put points on the board from the 25-yard line. There is an undefined amount of time in which a match could last, but Schultz knows that winning or losing can all come down to one play.

    “Fumble the ball or throw an interception or have a penalty and all the sudden it’s difficult to win,” he said.

    In potentially the last time they suit up as complimentary running backs to one another, Dominick Courcy and Zack Baldwin will be the X-factors for the Tigers in the tie-breaker, Schultz said.

    And when it’s time to suit up for what could be the final time the Tigers take the field this season, Schultz, while faced with a complex challenge, will deliver a simple statement to his players: “I’m just going to tell them to play hard and have fun.”