Mary G. Montgomery has never been to a state semifinal football game. In fact, the Vikings won their first playoff game ever last week.

Enterprise hasn’t been to the semis since 1993.

That will change for one of those teams this week.

The Wildcats and Vikings meet in the Class 7A quarterfinals in Semmes on Friday night. The winner will face either No. 1 Central-Phenix City or No. 4 Auburn in the semifinals Thanksgiving week.

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“It’s been a while since Enterprise has been to that point,” head coach Ben Blackmon said. “It would be nice to get back.”

Ironically, Blackmon played a small role in the playoffs during that 1993 season. Enterprise defeated Lee-Montgomery in the second round that year. Blackmon was a player on that Lee squad.

This year’s Wildcats (9-2) advanced into the second round with a dominating 63-28 home win over Daphne. Mary G. Montgomery’s first playoff win came courtesy of a 21-13 comeback against Dothan.

“It was so emotional,” MGM second-year coach Zach Golson said. “It was such a back-and-forth game with the momentum. They really jumped on us. I thought our kids did a good job of just continuing to be us. At the end of the day, we were able to find a way in the second half.”

Shondell Harris ran for 85 yards and two scores as the Vikings erased a 13-0 deficit to secure the win. The win moved MGM to 11-0 on the season. The Vikings have outscored the competition 393-94.

“What Zach and (defensive coordinator) Alex (Page) have done is amazing,” Blackmon said. “Alex has the defense playing extremely hard, and they are really fast. They get off blocks, and they are fundamentally sound, which is a testament to Alex. Zach has brought life into the community over there.

“I think he’s been able to keep players in Semmes and also some who had left came back. The culture he is building and everything he’s done there in a short time has been phenomenal.”

South Alabama QB commit Jared Hollins has been Mary G.’s leader all year. He is completing 67.6 percent of his passes for 2,553 yards and 29 TDs. He’s been intercepted just twice. He’s also rushed for 388 yards and 8 TDs. Blackmon, who will coach Hollins in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game next month, must find a way to stop him Friday night.

“When we evaluated him, there was no doubt he needed to be in the All-Star Game,” he said. “He has a live arm and can make things happen with his legs. He can really extend plays. He also, from watching on film, probably has the greatest trait any quarterback can have and that is that he is very tough.”

Blackmon’s Enterprise team will try to counter with a run-heavy attack, similar to what he went to at Spanish Fort in 2019. That season, current Missouri defensive back Kris Abrams-Draine moved to quarterback and led the Toros all the way to the Class 6A state title game.

This year, it’s 4-star junior Eric Winters who made the move to quarterback for the Wildcats midway through the season.

“He gives us the best chance to win with the football in his hands,” Blackmon said. “He’s 6-foot-3, 200 pounds. He runs a 4.5. He has good agility and is a very smart football player. He’s a student of the game. He studies and watches film all the time.”

Since moving to quarterback full-time, Winters has completed 64 percent of his passes for 501 yards and 4 TDs. He’s also rushed for 699 yards and 12 TDs on 69 carries. Indiana commit Keion Dunlap is the team’s leading rusher with 1,050 yards and 17 TDs on 118 carries.

In last week’s win over Daphne, the duo combined for 486 yards and 8 TDs.

“There are similarities (to Dothan) but also a lot of differences offensively,” Golson said of Enterprise. “They have really good players. They made a change at quarterback. Now, they are snapping it to a 4-star athlete every time. The running back is a really good player. (Coach) John Turner does a great job with the offensive line, and their perimeter guys block hard. Add in the fact that Ben is a really creative play-caller, and we will have our hands full on defense again.”

MGM’s defense has allowed just 9 points a game this season and held six opponents to single digits. No team has scored more than 14 points against the Vikings. Enterprise is allowing 17 points a game.

“Obviously, we want to keep the ball out of Hollins’ hands if we can,” Blackmon said. “We want to be able to run our offense. We have to be able to manufacture some drives against their defense and that hasn’t happened a lot this year. We have to figure out a way to break that barrier.”

Golson, meanwhile, will be trying to find a way to score points against Enterprise’s defense, led by DB Andrew Purcell.

“We’ve got to find ways to get our guys the ball with favorable matchups,” he said. “We also have to do a better job in the red zone this week. We got stopped a couple of times the other night, and that was unusual for us. We drove the ball pretty much every time we had it but didn’t finish enough. We had a couple of turnovers, and we have to clean that up if we want to move forward.”

Dothan is the only common opponent the two teams have played this season. Enterprise lost to the Wolves 21-14 on Oct. 13.