After a long regular season, No. 23 seeded Putnam County (5-5) recently learned it will play No. 10 Temple (8-2) in the first round of the 32-team playoffs.
Putnam will travel to northwest Georgia on Friday to face Temple, a senior-led team that hopes to win the state championship this year.
“They’re a hard-nosed team. They’re a wing-T team,” Putnam head coach Joel Harvin said. “You can tell they’re an older team. They’ve got a lot of guys who have probably played in certain positions for a few years and have been in the program for a while. They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. They play hard.”
Temple coach Corey Nix has turned things around in year three. The Tigers went 5-6 last season but won a program-record eight games this year. On Friday, they hope to win their first playoff game since 2005.
Temple’s two losses came to Trion and Heard County. Per Harvin, the Tigers could’ve won both games.
“Their coaches have done a good job keeping them in games,” Harvin acknowledged about Temple’s losses. “If you look at it, they very well could have won the two games they lost. They’re either leading or tied at halftime, and the other team just pulled away in the second half. They’re a good football team, man.”
Temple’s run game has been a huge component of the team’s success. The Tigers are led by senior CJ Gray and sophomore Serjoe Jones, who combined to rush for 1,842 yards and 26 touchdowns this year.
Gray has already eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark, with Jones not far behind. Each has 13 rushing scores.
Harvin highlighted how important it will be for his defense to be in the right spot to stop this rushing attack.
“We’ve got to be sound and able to fit our gaps right,” Harvin explained.
“They’ve got some big guys up front on the line, so we’ve got to be physical and do our job. That’s the biggest thing. In some of the games we’ve lost, some guys tried to do a little too much, and they got out of position. Playing a wing-T team like this, you have to be able to read your keys, be physical, and make tackles, or they’ll make you pay.”
Temple’s defense does have some weak spots. The Tigers haven’t been able to stop the run consistently this year.
Putnam can exploit the Temple defensive front by getting senior running back Rashod Daniel going early. The War Eagles must also have strong ground performances from Daniel and quarterback Branan Griffin.
“We’re going to have to use everything we’ve got,” Harvin said. “We’ve had a couple of good weeks of practice here, just [fixing] some of those wrinkles. We will rely on what got us here and just try to be physical.”
Putnam and Temple have played two common opponents in McNair and Haralson County.
Each won both games, so Friday’s matchup should be intriguing. The winner will face either Thomasville or Bacon County next week.
“We’re pumped up,” Harvin said. “I’m just glad to be able to still play and get suited up.”