fayette — The long road to a 3A state championship begins Friday for the Jefferson County Tigers.

The Tigers host their first ever playoff game against the Perry Central Bulldogs (7-3, 4-2).

Both teams are coming off dominating wins last week, Perry Central 35-7 over Pass Christian and Jefferson County 41-6 over Wilkinson County.

The Bulldogs will try to run their power running game against a Jefferson County defense that only gives up 17 points per game and gets playmaking linebacker Shavikia Gaines back from injury.

“Our defense is as healthy as it’s ever been,” Jefferson County head coach James Herrington said. “We have a stout defense that has been playing outstanding all year.”

Perry Central’s head coach Brian Ford said they run a basic pro I offense and depend on their two running backs to carry the load.

“Xavier Jones and Nick Griffin have rushed for over 1,000 yards apiece,” Ford said. “What we do is simple but we do it well and it works.”

Ford said they were going to run right at the Tigers and play time possession football.

“Our goal is to keep Jefferson County’s offense off the field,” he said.

Herrington said the key for his defense was to not allow Perry Central to get momentum.

“We have to win the third down battles and give our offense a chance to score,” Herrington said.

Ford said his best defense against Jefferson County would be a good offense.

“Jefferson is too big and strong,” Ford said. “We have to do what got us here. It’s going to be a tough match up.”

When Herrington’s offense takes the field they will be without starting quarterback Percy Turner.

“We thought he would be ready this week,” Herrington said. “We are going to take it day to day.”

Jeffery Collins will get the start. Herrington said Collins has been outstanding so far and felt like he could get the job done.

“Jeffery does it all for us,” Herrington said. “He is that slash type of player.”

Herrington said he wanted to jump out early on Perry Central and take advantage of miss matches that may present themselves.

“Front what we have seen they play a base 50 defense,” he said. “We’re going to try to get our passing game going and use the one on one coverage.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.