SUGAR HILL — Lanier football ripped the monkey from its collective back and put it to a humane end last week.
That doesn’t mean the Longhorns are now a carefree and footloose team, however. Far from it.
As Lanier approaches Friday’s second round playoff game against Northgate, Longhorns coaches hope their players will attack the contest with the same attitude that helped them get over last week’s first round hump.
"Our kids had a chip on their shoulder last week, so we talked about on Monday we want to continue to play with that same chip," said Lanier coach Korey Mobbs, who watched his team avenge a 2014 first round exit with a 27-13 win over East Paulding last week. "Some of it had to do with last year and how we ended with that sour taste in our mouth and we spent all offseason working towards last Friday, so now we’ve talked to our kids about the fact that there’s 16 teams left in our classification that are playing football. And we’ve been blessed to be one of them, but we’d love to be one of eight, so that’s been our goal."
To be one of those eight and reach the state quarterfinals for the first time in program history, the Longhorns (11-0) will have to find a way past a Northgate team that has proven even more stingy than the Longhorns' own dominant defense.
(NOTE: To read up on all of the week's playoff contests involving all northeast Georgia programs click here.)
The Vikings (10-1) enter the contest allowing a Class AAAAA-low 6.5 points per game, utilizing a swirling 3-3-5 base to bring pressure from multiple angles. Northgate also features linebacker Jamie Skalski (6-feet, 230 pounds), the spark on a unit that has produced five shutouts so far this campaign -- including last week's 44-0 first round defeat of Shaw.
"They really just run to the ball with great effectiveness. And they don’t allow big plays, and I think that’s why they’re most effective," Mobbs said. "So points are going to be hard to come by. But we’re hoping it’s the other way with our defense as well."
Lanier's defense has also been downright nasty this season, yielding just 8.3 points per game, while also featuring its own playmaker in defensive lineman Derrick Brown -- an imposing senior ranked as the top defensive line recruit in the state that leads the Longhorns in tackles for loss (39), sacks (12) and quarterback hurries (25) and is third in total tackles (96), He also has one interception, two fumble recoveries and a defensive touchdown, as well as a receiving and rushing score.
Brown and linemates like the equally-imposing Michael Allen (15 tackles for loss, 8 sacks) will face a stout challenge against the Vikings' sizable offensive line -- one that clears the way for fleet-footed running back Ton Evans. And Mobbs says his team could need big contributions from up and down the roster, as the Longhorns look to slow Northgate's wing-T attack that is scoring over 40 points per game.
"I think the playoffs are definitely a great time for someone to step up that hadn’t made plays to this point. Like last week we had Ethan Wilson that had a pick-six and then an interception to seal the game at the end -- that was great for him to step up," Mobbs said. "We’re looking for someone else to do that. It could be one of the usual suspects -- Derrick’s going to play well; everybody knows about Derrick. But really with the wing-T it’s about stopping them on first down, getting them off track, getting them out of schedule, and hopefully we can do that.
"Offensively, we've got to protect the football and just grind it out and get the first downs on the ground and take our shots through the air."
The Longhorns has experienced a stutter or two this season but found its stride late in the season, averaging 30.2 points per game. Led by it's own punishing offensive line and brothers Marcko Baity (1,076 yards rushing, 14 TDs) and Marcella Baity (726 yards, 9 TDs), Lanier averages over 200 yards rushing per contest.
"Offensively we have to do what we do always, keep running the ball," said Lanier senior tight end Will Bryan. "We feel pretty confident. We’re just trying to go 1-0 on the week. We’re just trying to focus on Friday; we’ll get to everything else when it come. If we keep our head down and focus on the short term we’ll be OK."
Do that and Lanier will be in brand new territory.
"We’re excited. It was really good to win Friday night, especially how we finished last year -- so everyone can quit asking me about that, and we can move on to hopefully bigger and better things," Mobbs said. "Our goal as a team obviously is to go 1-0 every week. But I think it’s special as a program if you can get to the next week and practice on Thanksgiving day. We say the mark of a good football team is practicing on Thanksgiving day. And that’s been our effort this week is to work towards that."
