WOODVILLE — Once again, Wilkinson County High School will have a spread offense to contend with when it hosts Morton High School Friday.

Head coach Kenneth Brown said Morton will look to bring a strong passing attack into the first round of the MHSAA Class 3A playoffs, and his defensive backs will have to be ready.

“I told (my defensive backs) yesterday that this is a huge game they’ll have to be ready for and on top of their game,” Brown said Wednesday. “From looking at them on film, they throw it quite a bit.”

Brown said Morton’s quarterback isn’t very big, so affecting him would be a big key in slowing the passing attack down.

“Hopefully we’d like to pressure him as much as we can,” Brown said. “Whatever it takes to get him off his rhythm.”

Brown also said his team is already used to playing in a playoff atmosphere after having to win its final several games in order to make it into the postseason.

“We’ve been playing with a playoff mentality for the last two weeks after we dug ourselves in a hole early,” Brown said. “Hopefully we’ll continue with that.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday at Wilkinson County.

Franklin County

MEADVILLE — Franklin County High School is looking to ride the momentum of a three-game winning streak as it travels to McLaurin High School Friday.

Bulldogs head coach Ricky O’Quinn said he hopes the momentum combined with a strong region schedule has his team ready to make some noise in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.

“It seems like every game (in our region) is a playoff game,” O’Quinn said. “You have Hazlehurst, Wilkinson County and Jefferson County are always tough teams year in and year out, and they get you ready for the playoffs.”

Since teams are one-and-done in the playoffs, O’Quinn said his players would have to approach each game with a lot of focus.

“You have to approach it as a can’t-lose situation, and you have to do whatever you can to win,” he said. “We’ve had an unbelievable amount of focus this week. The kids are fired up and ready to play.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday at McLaurin.

Jefferson County

FAYETTE — Jefferson County High School will travel to Forest High School Friday for the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.

Jefferson County finished with the No. 4 seed in Region 7-3A, while Forest has the No. 1 seed from Region 6. Tigers head coach James Herrington could not be reached for comment.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday at Forest.