All Blake Devall had to do was point to the wall in the Centreville Academy locker room.

He’s not in any of those pictures, but that’s the legacy of Tiger football there &045; nine teams have made the state championship game, and six of them came away winners. The Tigers haven’t been there since winning it all in 1999, but they’ll try it again Thursday when they battle Simpson Academy in the Class AA championship.

&uot;I’ve never felt anything like this,&uot; said Devall, who was in the eighth grade along with the 14 other Centreville seniors when the school last won a title. &uot;I’ve never been there before. We’ve just got to pick it up another notch and play our game. Defense is going to be the key.&uot;

Everything was kind of the key Friday night when the Tigers downed Oak Forest 10-0 in the South State championship. It was their second win over Oak Forest in less than a month after the Yellow Jackets had won the previous four meetings against Centreville.

For the group of seniors, the moment was special. It’s the first time in three years the Tigers got past the first round of the playoffs and there was plenty of redemption after just barely finishing above .500 last season.

&uot;I just came here last year,&uot; said defensive end A.J. Dooley, a transfer from West Feliciana (La.) High School. &uot;But I’ve been playing since I was 7 years old trying to get to something like this. It’s exciting &045; it’s exciting for all of us.&uot;

Both teams fought hard in a contest that turned out just like everyone expected &045; a hard-fought, virtually mistake-free ball game that boiled down to who made the most big plays. The Tigers had the most big plays in the contest, and the defense came through with another solid effort in the shutout.

The Tigers have not given up a point in the last nine quarters and just two in the last four games.

Underneath everything Friday night was another chapter in the series between mentor Bill Hurst and student Jason Brabham. Hurst coached Brabham at Centreville in the late 1980s, and Brabham stayed on as an assistant for about five years before taking the head coaching job at Oak Forest.

Brabham has done nothing but turn that program into a winner &045; up until then the Yellow Jackets were fortunate just to make the playoffs. His Yellow Jackets have now made South State the last four seasons.

&uot;We’re very close,&uot; said Hurst, who had Brabham on two state championship teams. &uot;We talk several times a week. We have a real good relationship. It’s really a hard game for Jason because of the fact he coached here. Coach Brabham is a winner. He’s turned that program into a fine football team.&uot;

Brabham’s Yellow Jackets played about as well as they could play, but his club made perhaps the only crucial mistake of the game. The Jackets were forced to punt at the Centreville 49, but the snap to punter A.J. Pettito went over his head.

Pettito tried to run with it but was tackled at the OFA 22 for a 26-yard loss. From there the Tigers pounded it in and eventually got into the end zone for the game’s only touchdown.

&uot;Just snapped it over his head,&uot; Brabham said. &uot;We haven’t done it all year. That’s probably as bad as it gets.

&uot;We were able to run the ball effectively. We were kind of spurty. I think they got the best of us up front.&uot;

OTHER BIG PLAY &045; The Yellow Jackets had their best drive of the game in the first half after Centreville scored and were on the verge of answering it.

After starting at their own 20, the Yellow Jackets piled up 17 plays over the course of seven minutes before getting down to the Centreville 7. Quarterback Shane Holland tried to find an open man in the end zone, but Centreville’s Josh Lanehart came up with an interception.

Lanehart, a sophomore, was making his first varsity start at defensive back after Blake Crawford broke his collarbone in the Tigers’ 14-0 win over Adams Christian the week prior.

&uot;Our defense is starting to step it up,&uot; Hurst said. &uot;They’ve been stepping it up the last three or four ball games. I think they’re playing above their heads &045; I really do. They’re playing well as a team.&uot;

A HARD ROAD &045; Things haven’t been easy in Franklin County’s march through the state playoffs, but the Bulldogs just keep on going.

In the opening round, Franklin County beat Columbia, a highly-regarded team in Class 3A. Friday the Bulldogs defeated No. 1 Forest. With that win, they get to face Tylertown, who Franklin County head coach Anthony Hart said just might be the best team in the state.

&uot;It’s not supposed to (get easier). But it does seem like this time has been even harder than usual,&uot; Hart said.

One thing working in the Bulldogs favor will be a little home-cooking. Franklin County will host Tylertown this week.

The Bulldogs have kept things simple all year, running the ball and playing tough, physical defense. In the playoffs, nothing’s changed. Against Forest, Franklin County controlled the clock with long drives and made good tackles, limiting the Bearcats big-play ability and slowing the game down.

&uot;I thought we controlled the game from start to finish,&uot; Hart said. &uot;We didn’t let up. We were also a lot more physical than they were, and that was the key.&uot;

VIKINGS OUT &045; Vidalia just wasn’t the same team from the last few seasons this year.

With a number of young players and less size and athleticism than last year’s squad, the Vikings struggled for much of the season before running through district play undefeated and making the playoffs.

But again Friday against Port Barre, the Vikings’ weaknesses showed.

&uot;They hit all our weak spots,&uot; Vidalia head coach Dee Faircloth said. &uot;They just drilled us.&uot;

Port Barre didn’t have much more size than the Vikings, but they were faster and executed their offense and defense more precisely than Vidalia Friday night.