The Class 3A Franklin County Bulldogs and the Class 4A LawrenceCounty Cougars enter the second round of the state footballplayoffs Friday night. The games start at 7 p.m.

Franklin County (9-3) travels to Philadelphia (11-1). Last week,Franklin County shut out Velma Jackson 33-0 and Philadelphiacrushed St. Patrick 32-0.

Lawrence County (8-4) is at home to host Laurel (6-5). LastFriday, Lawrence County flattened Mendenhall 49-7 and Laurelclipped Purvis 31-24.

Franklin County head coach Trent Hammond said, “Philadelphia isa huge size-wise. They run the football right at you. They playold-fashion, bloody-nose football. They line up and say “Here itcomes”. They have several kids over the 300-pound mark. Theirtailback has scored 25-27 touchdowns. Their quarterback throwsslants pretty well.”

Hammond said the Bulldogs must play sound football to beatPhiladelphia.

“To beat them, we have to play fundamentally sound football,”explained Hammond. “We must play our technique and be in the rightplace and play football. We play pretty good when we to that.”

The Franklin County starting offensive lineup features CodyJones at center, Luther Bowling and Brad Covington at guard,Demechery Hickinghottom and Preston Shelton at tackle, LadarriousHunt and Denzel Hunt at tight end, Darnell Ford and JermaineStander at wingback, Tevin Thomas at fullback and Edward McGhee atquarterback.

Working on the Bulldog defense is Bobby O’Quinn at nose guard.The defensive ends are Ryan Covington and Brad Covington. TevinThomas and Alec Fleming are the outside linebackers. The insidelinebackers are Frank Hunt and Denzel Hunt. Milton Griffin andDehendret Collins are the corners. The safeties are Billy Normanand James Green.

In last Friday’s win over Velma Jackson, Franklin County was ledby Ford with 13 rushed for 111 yards and Jermaine Stander with 5carries for 101 yards.

Defensively, O’Quinn led the Bulldogs with 10 tackles and 2quarterback back hurries. Frank Hunt followed with 8 tackles and aforced fumble.

Lawrence County head coach Mike Davis talked about the LaurelTornadoes.

“Laurel is bringing in an athletic, talented bunch,” said Davis.”The guys can run on offense. Their quarterback is one of the bestwe will see this year.”

“Defensively, they fly around to the ball with blitzing andstunting. We are going to have to not give up the big plays andprotect the football.

“We had a good week last week. We hope we can continue themomentum. We have our work cut out for us. We have to play a good,clean ball game.”

In the victory over Mendenhall, Lawrence County was powered byMatthew Wells with 11 carries for 77 yards and a touchdown. JoshCameron rushed for 74 yards on 5 carries and a TD. Following wasAnthony Montgomery with 4 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown.

Starting in the LCHS offensive line are center John Brooks,guards Daniel Brooks, Devin Keyes and Daniel Harness, tacklesJustin Barnes, Kevin Bryant, Wesley Lambert and Eric Boutte andtight end Jamie McCardle