When the Bremen High School football team hosts Athens Academy tonight, the Blue Devils will be facing a team that has played in the state semifinals the past two seasons in the Georgia Dome. Bremen (10-1) is hoping for a similar run this season, something senior quarterback Clayton McIntosh said makes today’s 7:30 second-round state playoff contest such an interesting matchup.

The Blue Devils are now in the second round of the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, though they haven’t gotten past this round since 2005. Bremen reached the third round, the state quarterfinals, in 2004 and 2005.

“We want to get to that dome, and so if we want to get to the Dome, we know we’re going to have to beat a team like this,” McIntosh said. “So this is just a huge challenge for us, and we’ve got to come out there and execute the best we can if we want to have a chance in this game.”

Blue Devil coach Ricky Tolleson is optimistic his team can go deeper in the playoffs this year.

“We feel good about it. It’s one game at a time, and Friday night, we feel good about it. I mean, it’s just going to be a great game. We’re ready to compete,” Tolleson said. “I like our chances because we’re playing at home.”

Tolleson said the Spartans (10-1) do a great job of making plays.

“They were in the Dome last year, and there’s a reason why,” Tolleson said. “They’ve got a really good football team. They will probably execute better than anybody we’ve seen.”

Senior running back Kail Singleton said he sees a number of similarities between Bremen and Athens Academy, which he suggested should make for a good game.

“They’re just like us. They’ve got good coaches, and it’s going to be a fundamental battle,” Singleton said. “So we’re going to have to play good and crisp so we can come away with the win.”

Tolleson said the Spartans run plays out of at least 67 different formations, which makes for plenty of ways they can cause problems for opposing defenses.

“They’ve got an NFL-style offense. They do everything. You have to prepare for everything,” Tolleson said. “You’ve got to prepare to defend the field in every formation.”

Though it’s hard to be fully prepared for every formation, Tolleson isn’t worried. He knows the most important thing for his guys is doing what they can do rather than becoming too concerned by the intricacies of the opponent’s system.

“The most important part of this game is us doing what we do to the best of our ability and making plays,” Tolleson said. “We’re going to have to make some plays.”

Junior running back Christian Prichard said the Blue Devils just need to keep doing the things that have made them succesful so far this season.

“If we play like we’ve been playing every game, you know, take every game one game at a time and just play hard every play, we’ll be good,” Prichard said.

The team hasn’t had many close games this season. Its closest victory came in a 41-31 game against Alexander in its Aug. 29 season-opener. Since its lone loss, a 39-20 defeat at Rockmart on Sept. 12, Bremen’s closest game was a 31-7 triumph Nov. 7 against Bowdon. But Prichard said he’s not too worried about whether the team will be prepared if it has a close contest tonight.

“If it is a close game, hopefully we’ll come out on top,” Prichard said. “That’s the plan.”

Meanwhile, Tolleson said the Blue Devil offensive line has the potential to set the tone for the game.

“Our offensive line has got to control the tempo of the football game,” Tolleson said.

Prichard put it another way.

“Our goal is to keep their offense off the field,” Prichard said.

And heading into such a high-stakes game, Tolleson feels like his team is much healthier than it has been for most of the season. He’s hoping it’s enough, along with a strong effort, to propel Bremen one step closer to that dome.

“We’ve had a good week of practice. We’re healthy,” Tolleson said. “The last two weeks I think we’ve been the healthiest we’ve been all year long.”