“Defensively, they’ve got some hard-nosed kids,” Freeman said. “Their nose guard (McDaniel) is going to Purdue. They’re going to be tough for us.”

Tonight, the Yellow Jackets will probably be stacking the box, trying to contain Brooks’ option attack. Quarterback Jeremy Cody (1,000 rushing yards, 700 passing yards), tailback Keith Christopher (1,400 yards rushing) and a strong offensive line have helped the Trojans average 35 points per game.

Calhoun has three straight convincing wins in the playoffs. The Yellow Jackets steamrolled Banks County 63-0, beat Westminster 38-20, then hammered Toombs County 41-14 last week.

Brooks won its first two playoff games pretty convincingly, beating Tattnall County 41-13 and Jefferson County 27-7, then had to rally late in the game to beat Lovett 33-32 last week.

So what must Brooks do to win tonight’s game?

“We’ve got to play much better than we did last Friday. I don’t think we played that well on Friday,” Freeman said. “We’ve got to play much better on defense. We’ve got to tackle. We were (allowing) nine points a game before that. We’ve got to continue to sustain long drives, and keep their offense off the field. And we’ve got to be solid on special teams.”