Shelby at Southern (championship game)

GREENSBORO – On Friday night, the Shelby Academy Raiders will be battling the Southern Academy Cougars in the AISA championship game in Greensboro.

And according to Cougars head coach Shaun Bonds, defense is what has helped get them to this point.

“The key factor in our second round win was that we played great defense,” Bonds said.

“They had those big backs and I thought our defense beat them.

We stopped their running game and that forced them to throw the football.

And, of course, we had two interceptions.

We won the line battle on both sides.

We blocked them and they didn’t block us and that was the difference.”

Demopolis at Trinity (quarterfinals)

As the Demopolis Tigers prepare for round three of the AHSAA Class 4A playoffs against the Trinity Wildcats, head coach Doug Goodwin is happy that his team has advanced this far.

Last week’s game against Thomasville was a hard-fought victory for Demopolis, as the Tigers won thanks in a large part to the team’s ability to throw the ball.

“I think if we hadn’t been able to throw the ball, we would have been in trouble,” Goodwin said.

“Because we didn’t run-block them very well and, of course, their [Thomasville’s] quickness had a lot to do with that.

I guess the field conditions and all had something to do with it.

But I thought our ability to throw allowed us to score when we did early in the game.

And then, our defense just made the plays when they had to when they got down close.

The kids playing hard and getting after it and not giving up were all key factors in our win last week. It was hard to throw in the fog because the kids kept saying they couldn’t see the ball.

I was really surprised we were able to throw it as well as we were.”

Sweet Water at Loachapoka (quarterfinals)

On Friday night, the Sweet Water Bulldogs will be hitting the road for Loachapoka to battle the Indians in the quarterfinals of the AHSAA Class 1A playoffs.

And according to Bulldogs head coach Stacy Luker, “defense” was the key to making it to round three.

“Our defense was the key factor in our round two victory,” Luker said.

“They stepped up the other night and we played a much better game than we did before.

And that just set the tone for us.”