GAINESVILLE — North Hall football players knew all about their program’s road playoff woes.
After 61 years without a postseason victory away from The Brickyard, it was impossible to avoid.
Instead of letting it dominate their thinking last week, however, the Trojans acknowledged the old ghost that had haunted so many of their predecessors — and then exorcized it like some minor annoyance.
In fact, Friday’s 41-6 defeat of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe made the Trojans look like veteran road warriors despite the fact it was the current senior class’s first playoff success of any kind — let alone a historical feat.
“Obviously 61 years in this high school no one has ever won a playoff game on the road, and to be able to get that is always special,” North Hall coach David Bishop said. “But this is a unique group. I’ve had the opportunity to be here 18 years; this group is — if you’re seniors and you’ve played four years — this is their fourth year in the playoffs, and it’s actually their first playoff win. So not only do they get their first playoff win, they get to break a record or a drought in the process so it’s been fun.”
It was a victory that the Trojans’ strong senior class had determined to claim, even if they did not want to make a big fuss over it.
“It was just an obstacle we had to overcome to get to the state championship, and we just had to get past it,” Trojans senior quarterback/safety said. “It was just one obstacle.”
“It was acknowledged but, like (Seavey) said, we’re looking more at these games as obstacles more than anything else, so we just repped a lot last week on both sides of the ball and just played like it was a normal game really.,” North Hall senior lineman Logan Jackson said.
Understatement away from the field and bold statements between the lines has been the calling card of this year’s seniors.
“You talk about unique teams, this is a unique team. They don’t get afraid of anybody — you’ve heard me say it; they don’t get too high, they don’t get too low; they’re just business-like in how they approach every game,” Bishop said. “They’re competitors. That is one thing we noticed when they were ninth graders. They used to drive us crazy in practice, but when you turn the lights on they play, and that was one thing we knew was coming. So going into Friday being a playoff game, it didn’t matter for our kids; they were just going to go play.”
Combine that with obvious talent, including players like Seavey (713 yards passing, 10 TDs, 0 INTs; 414 yards rushing, 11 TDs; 64 tackles), Daniel Jackson (1,632 total yards, 25 TDs; team-high 76 tackles) and Drew Faulkner (376 yards rushing, 6 TDs) — sprinkled with standouts like juniors Luke Volle (3 interceptions) and Logan Hawthorne (53 tackles, 11 for loss) and sophomores JT Fair (1,183 total yards, 12 TDs) and Dalton Battle (72 tackles) — and a strong chemistry and you get North Hall’s best season since 2012’s state semifinal run.
“I think it’s been building over time,” Bishop said. “You take Daniel and David and a few other seniors that started as sophomores and they were kind of the backbone of last year’s team. And then you take the juniors that we have, and they had to play a lot as sophomores, so there’s a lot of growth in that process. And last year I think by the time we got toward the end of region we realized the group that was coming back was going to be pretty special.”
That said, North Hall is honest in saying that it is going to take something extra special to notch their second straight road playoff victory.
That’s because the Trojans’ reward for their win at Fort Oglethorpe is a Class 3A Sweet 16 showdown with No. 2-ranked Cedar Grove — a program loaded with collegiate talent that was a state semifinalist in 2017 and champion in ’16 and has defeated two Class 3A ranked foes so far in 201.
(NOTE: The game will be broadcast live on WDUN FM 102.9 on Friday.)
The Saints’ raw numbers are pretty impressive too, as they lead all of Class 3A in points allowed with just 77 in 11 games (7 points per contest), including six shutouts.
“They have the potential to play extremely hard so even if we’re scrapping they’re going to find another level because of the type of athletes they have and the determination they have to go back and win a state championship,” Bishop said. “But our kids are ready for the task.”
Indeed, North Hall’s approach remains the same.
“We know Cedar Grove’s a good team, but we feel like we can give them a good shot, and I feel like we have a good team chemistry. I feel like that helps us a lot,” Seavey said.
For the Trojans, that means sticking to their tried-and-true wing-T rushing attack and scheming for any advantage they can find.
“I think the biggest thing is three yards and a cloud of dust. Whatever we have to do to get three yards we’re going to do it,” Bishop said. “We’re going to be probably changing formations every play and trying to have a different set so that way they get a different look — don’t want to get set into one thing and just try inside, outside, inside — just whatever we have to do to get those three yards.”
It is a challenge that North Hall is relishing. Just don’t expect any bravado or promises of shock or upset. It’s just not their style — even after last week’s historic victory.
“The key is just everybody to do their assignment every play, and not worry about really how good they are but make sure you — like coach Bishop says always own your 20 square feet,” Logan Jackson said. “We’ve just got to play for each other and play our assignments, that’s it.”
“We’re pretty calm; we know there’s going to be some high points and low points in the game. And we know that we can’t get too excited and waste all of our energy; we just have to keep our mind on the prize,” Seavey said.
Do that and there will be no need for talking off the field.
