After keeping their unblemished season intact, Strong finishes the regular season with a two-game road trip needing just one win to clinch home-field advantage for the playoffs.
The Bulldogs’ first opportunity comes tonight at Spring Hill in an 8-Man South tilt.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs (6-0, 4-0) rallied past former 8-2A rival Woodlawn 30-26 on LaQuincy Shelton’s 1-yard touchdown run coupled with a late defensive stand after the Bears had rallied to take the lead earlier in the fourth quarter.
Spring Hill (4-3, 3-2) enters off a bye week after falling to Marvell 28-14 at home two weeks ago.
The schools last met in the opening round of the 2013 playoffs with the Bulldogs winning 28-6.
“They’re multiple on offense,” Strong coach Sirl Wright said of the Bears. “They give multiple formations and try to make you misalign. They can run it or pass it, so they give you different looks from the offensive perspective. They’re going to be a tough opponent, and we’ve got to come to play this week.”
The Bears have one of the top playmakers in the eight-man ranks in senior Colin Purifoy, who had eight catches for 268 yards and five touchdowns earlier this year against Mountain Pine.
“They’ve got a pretty good receiver, and he’s a technician,” Wright said. “He’s a good possession receiver, and if you give him a step, he’ll burn you deep. He’s given everyone problems no matter who they have faced. He’s going to be a tough matchup.”
Quarterback Levin McGuire and running back T.J. Tipton, who is also a threat as a receiver, help key the Bears’ offense, and Wright said Spring Hill will change things up at quarterback some.
“It’s easier when you know it’s just going to be that one guy and you can prepare for that one guy,” Wright said. “But when you have multiple quarterbacks, even when their star player gets back there, it changes up concepts.
“What helps out is just having a high football IQ and know when to adjust defensively to what they give you and basically keeps you on your toes because you always have to look at the personnel coming in on each play.”
The Bulldogs have won the bulk of their games in lopsided fashion, but after Woodlawn’s fourth-quarter rally, Strong showed plenty of mettle by responding.
“When you’re leading primarily the whole game and then they capitalize on some turnovers and get the momentum and pass us, it shows a lot of grit and tenacity,” Wright said. “We didn’t hang our heads because we turned the ball over and not even more because they scored from that possession. To have that poise and thrive and believe in the offense and score right back and then turn around and seal the game with some sacks by Byron (Maze) and Jayme (Correa).”
The Bulldogs also did not panic at a critical time.
“It just shows that they’re maturing and it shows senior leadership,” Wright said. “Some of the seniors stepped up and when it came to the point where we needed something, they came up and showed that they were Bulldog ready and Bulldog tough.”
It’s been said that a close game can benefit a team that has won many games in one-sided fashion in the long run, and Wright said that could be the case for the Bulldogs.
“When every team, no matter if it’s Alabama or the New England Patriots or any team that wins a lot on a consistent basis, they all get that bubble in their mind that, ‘Oh, we’re indestructible,’” Wright said. “Some teams that may not take them lighter than they should. I don’t we did, but it was kind of an eye opener that we’re not that not far ahead of the competition.
“We’ve still got to continue to practice, still work on base fundamentals and learn to improvise when someone hits you in the mouth and continue to struggle. It’s a battle week to week.
“There’s a lot of teams in our division that have had a lot of success in eight-man. It’s not a pushover going through eight-man, especially in the South conference.”
Shelton ran for two scores and threw a pair of touchdown passes to Treveon Daniels in the win over Woodlawn, and with teams beginning to focus on trying to take away Byron Maze, Daniels, who had 89 yards combined rushing and receiving, will be a key figure.
Maze himself had just three catches, but his last one went for 48 yards and set up the game-winning touchdown.
“I think that was Woodlawn’s plan was to stop Maze at all costs,” Wright said. “They didn’t stop him totally, but they held some things back by giving us a look we hadn’t seen before. We had him open a lot. There were just some errant passes, but that comes with timing and all of that. I think we’ll iron that out with a good week of practice.”
Defensively, Maze was dominant, racking up 16 tackles with four sacks and a fumble recovery.
Shelton had 14 tackles with one for a loss and Jayme Correa had 12 stops and a sack.
Daniels also recovered a fumble while making nine tackles.
Strong will also be adding some depth by moving five freshmen up to the varsity from the junior high squad, who finished its season earlier this week.
“They give us depth, but there a few of them that can step in and help out right away,” Wright said. “All year long, we’ve been playing with two linemen just because we’re low on numbers. Some of our guys that have filled in have done a heck of a job. I’m a pretty sure a 130-pounder going against a 230-pounder is not fun, but they’ve been showing a lot of grit going through this season.”
For the Bulldogs to knock off the Bears, Wright said his defense must find a way to slow down Spring Hill’s offense.
“Slow down their offense, execute our offense, minimize turnovers and block and tackle,” Wright said. “If we do that, I think we’ll be fine.”