TIFTON, Ga. — At the beginning of the year, the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane was heavily predicted to be going deep in the state tournament. Fitzgerald has done so, winning 12 games and advancing to its third straight semifinal in Class AA.

The same cannot be said about the team lining up against them at 7:30 p.m. at Jaycee Stadium tonight.

The Hapeville Charter Hornets (10-3) are in their first state playoff run and have quietly survived three rounds of competition. They advanced to the semifinals with a 30-21 victory against Chattooga, pulling away from a 24-24 tie in the third quarter.

Fitzgerald head coach Jason Strickland admitted to some surprise at Hapeville’s rise out of Region 6, the conference that delivered the school that defeated him in 2015 for the state championship, Pace Academy.

“No one knew what Region 6 would offer after the private schools left,” he said.

Hapeville won the region this year, as did the Hurricane. A coin flip determined who would host tonight.

“We feel very, very blessed,” Strickland said.

Besides a chance to reach a second straight state title game, it gives the Hurricane a chance for closure. This will be the last home game for Fitzgerald’s seniors. Tonight’s victor will play in the Georgia Dome next Saturday at 1 p.m. against either Benedictine or Callaway.

Hapeville Charter is quite a new system in the state. Organized in 2004, the school opened in 2009. Football has only been going six years.

Strickland said he was still learning about Hapeville.

What he does know?

“Two guys in the secondary have been offered by SEC schools,” he said.

Those individuals are William Poole and Christopher Smith. Poole has a verbal commitment with Georgia and 24/7 Sports reported that he has offers from most of the Southeastern Conference, including Alabama, LSU and other schools, such as Notre Dame, Florida State and Ohio State. Georgia recently offered Smith a scholarship, as have others. Besides those two, defensive end Cameron Merrell was named Region 6-AA’s Defensive Player of the Year.

“They’re extremely athletic,” he said, noting that Hapeville held Jefferson County to six points in a first-round win.

The Hornets started off slow in 2016, winning one of their first four games. The schedule, though, was an ambitious one, with the losses coming to Cartersville, Pace Academy and Wesleyan. Cartersville is also a semifinalist at 13-0 in Class AAAA. Playing those three, Strickland said, made for a tough schedule.

After that stretch, Hapeville has been clicking, rattling off nine consecutive wins and an average score of 33-8. Defensive dominance has been helped, but the Hornets have had plenty of support on offense, especially from quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams.

Hapeville has only updated MaxPreps stats through 11 games and Williams has thrown for more than 2,200 yards in those, to go along with 24 touchdowns and more than 400 yards rushing. Chattooga head coach Charlie Hammon compared him to Cam Newton in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press.

Strickland said Williams “threw a great deep ball,” adding that the Hornets threw more downfield passes than other schools. His targets will present their own challenge. Rory Starkey and Andunte Devereux both have more than 500 yards receiving. Christian Nelson and Kivante’ Johnson each have around 350. Three of the four are 6 feet or taller with Nelson at 6-foot-3.

Fitzgerald has its own advantages, namely the location.

With the exception of a 2016 game in North Carolina, Hapeville Charter has not had to travel far. Only six games in its history have been outside metro Atlanta and none farther south than a Greensboro contest four years ago.

“It’s the first playoff game they’ve had to play on the road,” he said. “I hope that plays to our advantage.”

There is also the crowd.

“It will be the first time they’ll see an entire community come in support,” Strickland joked that downtown would be deserted by 7 o’clock.

The support was all over Jaycee Stadium last week, when the Hurricane knocked off an undefeated Rabun County, 35-16.

Fitzgerald’s usual offensive suspects did their damage — James Graham ran for 114 yards and J.D. King ran for 100 — but it was the defense that wore down Rabun. Josh Reliford finished with 18 tackles, Donterious Milsap 15. Callen Ray and Marlon Jackson each had two sacks as the team recorded seven.

The amazing thing about Reliford’s night, Strickland said, was how often the strong safety made tackles around the line of scrimmage.

“He’s playing very disciplined,” he said.

Fitzgerald had a 14-7 lead at halftime before scoring on its first possession of the third quarter. The offense accumulated close to 300 second-half yards. Graham finished with 248 yards passing and three touchdowns. He has 1,489 for the season.