The Bremen High School football team isn’t accustomed to being a lower-seeded team in the state playoffs, but Holy Innocents’ coach Ryan Livezey knows firsthand how dangerous the Blue Devils (7-4) can be Friday simply because of their underdog status.

That’s because the seventh-ranked Golden Bears (10-1), the No. 1 seed from Region 5-A and Bremen’s second-round Class A state playoff opponent this Friday at Hoskyn Stadium in Atlanta, sprung first-round upsets of their own as a No. 4 seed in 2007 and a No. 3 seed in 2008.

And Livezey, who has been involved with the school for seven years and coached Holy Innocents’ varsity football team for all four of its seasons, said the Region 6 No. 3 seed Blue Devils are just the kind of team that is capable of pulling another upset like last Friday’s 17-14 win at eighth-ranked Wilkinson County.

“They’re playing very well at the right time,” Livezey said.

Bremen responded well last Friday, a week after a tough 30-10 loss at rival Bowdon to close the regular season. Blue Devil coach Ricky Tolleson said bouncing back and keeping the season alive showed his team’s character.

“We expect to do well, and when we don’t, we try to find a way to get back up,” Tolleson said. “And I’m just so proud of our kids and our coaching staff last week because that was a tremendous upset.”

Senior center Jacob Davis said the victory against the Warriors (8-3) was just what the team needed.

“It meant a lot to us. That Bowdon loss was pretty hard on us,” Davis said. “Just coming back, going hard at it (was) really good (for) us.”

And senior running back Christian Prichard said the formula for a win this Friday isn’t complicated.

“We’ve just got to do the basics, stick to what we know best and play hard-nosed Bremen football,” Prichard said.

The Golden Bears had to replace 15 starters from last season’s team, leaving them with plenty of question marks heading into the year. Then they nearly ran the table in the regular season, with their only defeat coming 28-2 on Sept. 11 against top-ranked Wesleyan, the defending state champion.

“It’s just been one of those things that every week we’ve gotten a little bit better,” Livezey said.

He said it will be a different kind of challenge for his team, which hasn’t had a victory by fewer than 23 points since then, against Bremen, suggesting that the Blue Devils are the best team outside of Wesleyan that Holy Innocents’ has played this year.

“We haven’t played anybody that just runs right at you and is going to try to knock you off the ball like Bremen does,” Livezey said.

But Tolleson, for his part, sees the same type of challenge in going against the Golden Bears, who run a wishbone offense similar to Bremen’s.

“They’re smash-mouth. They’re coming right at you,” Tolleson said. “Not a whole lot of tricks.”

Going into such a demanding matchup, Tolleson is grateful that his team came together when it counted in last week’s victory.

“The kids really bonded together as a team. They really leaned on one another, and we overcame a lot of adversity,” Tolleson said.

Tolleson said his guys are ready for another big test this week, as they look to reach the state quarterfinals for a second straight season and the fourth time in six years. And after the past couple of weeks, his team has taken some important lessons to heart.

“Victory is a great feeling. Failure is a big disappointment, but if you can get back up, take that next step and take another step...good things will happen in the end,” Tolleson said.