Gainesville preparing for familiar, explosive attack from South Paulding

GAINESVILLE -- Bruce Miller and Ed Koester have never coached together, never even met.

You might find that hard to believe by the way their teams play offense, however.

In fact the Red Elephants will almost be looking in the mirror on Friday in their second round Class AAAAA playoff showdown with South Paulding at City Park.

"They're almost identical to us in that spread offense," Miller said. "There's a few differences but not many."

That includes quarterback play.

And while Deshaun Watson is the state's all-time leading passer and one of the top signal callers in the nation -- 2,810 yards passing, 849 yards rushing, 50 total touchdowns this season -- Spartans senior Chandler Burks is no slouch, passing for 2,334 yards and rushing for 1,367 yards with 41 total touchdowns.

"He's pretty slippery for sure," Miller said of Burks, who has committed to play for Kennesaw State's inaugural team in 2015 and is currently leading an offense scoring 4.7 points per game. "We've got our work cut out for us, but that's what you expect in the second round of the playoffs."

That also extends to the running back position, and where the Red Elephants (10-1) have Michael Byrd (878 yards rushing, 477 yards receiving, 13 total TDs), the Spartans (10-1) will counter with Jae Bowen ( 1,158 yards rushing, 741 yards receiving, 31 TDs).

"Their running back is good, maybe not as fast as Mike (Byrd), but he's still a challenge," Miller said. "Hopefully we can find a way to contain them on Friday."

Gainesville's defense believes that seeing the abilities of its own spread attack in practice can only be a help come Friday.

"That's huge," Miller said. "They've seen that spread offense and that speed from our backs and receivers each day."

Of course, so has South Paulding's defenders, and Miller says the Spartans' front seven will be one of the best his offense has faced.

"We cannot play sloppy on Friday or our season will be over," Miller said.

Sloppiness was not a problem for Gainesville's defense last week, as the Red Elephants gave up some yards in a 28-14 defeat of M.L. King but also converted several big plays -- including an interception return for a touchdown from linebacker Devan Stringer and two fourth and goal stands from their own one yard-line. Yet Gainesville's offense would love to better last week's performance that saw the Red Elephants' net just 207 total yards.

"We didn't throw it real well last week, but we were able to make some key plays and the running game was working," said Miller, who watched Watson rush for a game-high 159 yards and two touchdowns. "And we're going to do what is working and try to take advantage of what we can do on that night."

After putting together an impressive playoff run last season, that included three straight road victories before reaching the championship contest in the Georgia Dome, the Red Elephants know that they will have to get better each week if they are to match that feat. And they also know that last year's elevation began in the second round of last year's postseason -- when Gainesville travelled to Kell and pulled off a 61-42 upset.

Last year's playoff experience is one of the few differences between Friday night's combatants, as South Paulding is in the playoffs for the first time in just its sixth year of varsity play.

Yet the Red Elephants know that means little come Friday and understand, from experience, just how much road tests can fire up a talented underdog -- especially one that plays in a region (5-AAAAA) that saw three of its playoff teams advance through the first round.

"We found ourselves against Kell last season, and we've got to start peaking now," Miller said. "This year has a different feeling to it than last year, and the kids know what's ahead of them now. But we're not at ease. There's no slouch in our bracket, and if we want to defend this thing we're going to have play five great games in a row."