MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — After countless practices and 12 games played under the Friday night lights, almost all of the hay is in the barn for the undefeated John Milledge Academy Trojans.

All that stands between them and the school’s second GISA AAA state title in three years is just a few more days on the practice field and one very worthy opponent in the Frederica Academy Knights. All eyes in the GISA will be on the matchup that will be played at Mercer University’s Five Star Stadium in Macon come Friday night. 

The championship bout features a pair of teams that faced off just five weeks ago in the penultimate game of the 2018 regular season. That night it was the Trojans who came out on top by scoring first in overtime before holding Frederica out of the end zone for what would have been the game-winning two-point conversion. 

“When you see somebody twice you kind of feel like you played your hand, especially when you win the ballgame. … We feel like our guys played great that game, and it’s going to take nothing short of that effort to even be in the ballgame Friday night. These guys have played hard about their heads all year, and we don’t expect anything less this week,” John Milledge head football coach J.T. Wall told The Union-Recorder in a Tuesday morning sit-down interview.

The Trojan head coach also pointed out the fact that the loss did little to discourage a Frederica ball club that has scored more than 42 points per game on average. The Knights steamrolled Bulloch Academy 49-24 for the region championship after the loss to JMA before putting up 60 and 53 points in their two playoff wins over Valwood and Heritage, respectively. 

“It seems like all we did was wake a sleeping giant,” Wall said. “Right after they played us they knocked out three blowouts against three very good opponents. They’re doing some different things, but also some of the same stuff they did but just a little better. They’re playing their best football right now and they’re as healthy as they’ve been all year.”

How do you prepare for a team you’ve already seen once? With the stakes so elevated, coaches could drive themselves mad with all the possibilities to prepare for, but a couple of things normally hold true in situations like these. One is the fact good teams stick to what got them to the big stage in the first place. For Frederica, that has been a potent passing attack featuring two very talented wide receivers on the outside. While Wall said his defensive staff has done a good job of charting their upcoming opponent’s tendencies at different points in the season, there’s one aspect that is particularly difficult to produce on the practice field. Getting hats to the football on defense and limiting space for Frederica’s playmakers will be key for the Trojans this week.

“You can’t simulate their speed,” said Wall. “Their team speed is the fastest we’ve seen since my time coaching at John Milledge. They’ve got speed to burn in multiple areas and they can score on any play anywhere on the field.”

For the Trojans, the legs of sophomore running back Amaad Foston and an offensive line that has done nothing but improve as the season has worn on have been the recipe to success, especially as of late. Not to be outdone is the John Milledge defensive unit that allowed 17 points last week against Tiftarea in the semifinals, which is only the second-highest total given up by the Trojans in 2018. 

“I feel like we’re playing the best we’ve played all year,” Wall said. “We preach all the time the difference between great teams and good teams is that great teams get better each week. We felt like in ’16 that our guys got better each week and we feel that same way this year. To have a shot Friday we’ve got to get better the rest of this week.”

John Milledge football’s last trip to Mercer proved to be a banner night for the program. After having finally broken through the semifinal round the Trojans defeated their rival Gatewood 17-0 to earn the state championship.

When asked if there was anything to take away from that 2016 experience, Wall said, “It’s a loud, hectic environment at Mercer. It’s a great atmosphere, but if you can block out the noise and just play football it’s not going to be that big a deal. Our guys have played in some big games already this year. Last week was a good test for us because Tiftarea does a great job of really utilizing the home-field advantage as far as the crowd noise and things like that we’ll be dealing with Friday night.”

John Milledge will be the visitor on the scoreboard for Friday’s title bout. The JMA-Frederica matchup will be the third in a championship tripleheader. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.