Mars Hill Bible and Madison Academy have never played in the 10 seasons that the Florence school has fielded a football team.

Finally on Friday at Bill Washington Stadium in Madison, two of the top private schools in North Alabama will throw down in a second-round Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 3A state playoff game. The second-ranked Mustangs bring an 11-0 record to the showdown while the No. 4 Panthers are 10-1.

While the teams haven’t met, the coaches are quite familiar with the men leading the teams on the opposite sidelines.

“We kind of grew up together,” said Darrell Higgins, who led Mars Hill to a state title in 2018 and back-to-back runner-up finishes the next two seasons. “He went to Wilson and I went to Coffee in Florence. And, I have already heard for several years about Madison Academy. I know coach (Bob) Godsey and what an outstanding coach he is. I was not surprised by what I have seen on film, but their talent and skill level blew me away.”

Godsey, who has taken Madison Academy to five straight playoff appearances and won a title in 2011 at Hartselle, praised Higgins for his performance at Mars Hill.

“The success they have had in a short period of time is remarkable,” he said. “At the same time, Darrell Higgins is an excellent football coach. He knows what he’s doing, knows how to run a program and has been part of a successful program before Mars Hill. He’s done a great job building that program and their success is well earned.”

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Higgins worked for 22 years as an assistant at Deshler, first for legendary coach Tandy Gerelds. He was Deshler’s offensive coordinator, teaching the Wing-T offense to scores of Tigers.

“I learned from Tandy Gerelds at Deshler in 1994,” Higgins said. “He put the Wing-T offense in around ‘97 and they still run it there today.

“The Wing-T is the only thing I know how to do. I wasn’t smart enough to learn anything else. Coach Gerelds taught me this and we had a lot of success when I was at Deshler (Gerelds was 101-36 there) and it’s something I believe in, and our players believe in. Like anything else, you learn it and believe in it, you can be successful.”

In eight years of the 10 that Mars Hill has played AHSAA football, Higgins has a 78-25 record. His first season, the Panthers were 0-10 after six forfeit losses. Mars Hill has been in the playoffs seven straight years since. After their only first-round exit in 2017, the Panthers won the title in 2018, fell in the finals in 2019 and 2020, lost in the semifinals in 2021 and were ousted in the second round last season.

Godsey missed the state playoffs in his first two seasons as a head coach at Brooks and has missed them only twice since in his 26-year career.

“You play all year to get to a matchup like this,” Godsey said. “This is probably a semifinal matchup in the second round.

“Coach Higgins has run the Wing-T a long time and he knows it backward and forward and upside down. They are always outstanding with it. They have an outstanding quarterback who is very athletic and capable of beating you with his arm and his legs. They have a lot of different weapons.”

The Mustangs saw Deshler’s Wing-T in a season-opening 42-6 road win. “I feel like we have a good plan,” Godsey said of challenging the Panthers, “but it comes down to executing our assignments and making plays in the game. Everybody is playing for those four or five plays in a game that kind of decide it. You play all night for those four or five plays.”

Godsey said his defensive front must rise to the challenge to match Mars Hill’s attack. “Tyler Long, Khamoni Merrell, Austin Chambers, Brock Horton and Demarcus Peoples all have to play well,” he said. “(Junior linebacker) AJ Rice is always going to figure into that as well.

“The two most important people on defense are probably Keaton Watson and Josh Williams. They play what we call our ‘Dog’ position, a safety/linebacker kind of jack-of-all-trades player.”

The Mustangs are second in Class 3A in scoring defense, allowing 9.7 points per game. Madison Academy’s regular-season opponents were 47-59 on the year with six making the state playoffs.

Madison Academy rely on running backs Ken Cherry and Josh Williams to spark 3A’s top scoring offense at 53.4 points a game. Cherry has run for 2,022 yards and 28 touchdowns while Williams has 1,099 yards and 16 scores. Quarterback Jake Poldiak has thrown 23 touchdown passes and been intercepted twice.

Mars Hill scores 49.3 points a game, second-best in 3A, and gives up 14.0. The Panthers lost to Region 8 rival and champ Lauderdale County (11-0) 20-14 in Week 9. The Panthers’ regular-season opponents compiled a 60-47 record and seven made the playoffs.

“Everything starts with our senior quarterback, Griffin Hanson,” Higgins said. “He has been the starting quarterback since the eighth grade. He played in the state championship in the eighth grade and was the MVP as a ninth-grader. He’s played in some big games, been on some big stages. He’s a guy who just loves football, whether he’s playing offense or defense. He doesn’t talk a lot, but his teammates give him a lot of respect. He knows what it means to play good football and being a leader.”

Hanson has 529 rushing yards with 6 touchdowns and has thrown for 1,369 yards (64-of-113) with 24 TDs and 3 interceptions.

“JO Owens and Jay Dobbs are Running Back A and B,” Higgins said. “They’ve done a good job at fullback and tailback.”

In nine games, Owens has 77 carries for 771 yards and 14 TDs, plus one touchdown catch. Dobbs, in 11 games, has 643 yards on 94 attempts. He has scored 11 times on the ground with 2 touchdown receptions.

“To be successful against somebody like Madison Academy,” Higgins said, “our offensive line has to really be on top of their game. No matter how good your skill guys are, if the O-line can’t produce, it doesn’t really matter.”

Gunnar Kirchharr, a 5-foot-10, 239-pound junior, is the anchor of the line at center. Guards Jackson Lowery (5-9, 190 senior) and junior 5-10, 186-pound William Embry are key to the offense’s success, Higgins said.

“Misdirection is definitely a big part of our offense and your guards have to be like linebackers,” he said. “Lowery and Embry can really run and get out and block a lot of people. We also have a big (6-5, 230) tight end, Cannon Pigg, who has really done a great job for us.

“Our defense is really fast and aggressive. We’ve got some smaller guys on our D-line, but they can really run and get down the line and make some good plays for us.”

Higgins called senior defensive ends Skyler Sterling and Jay Grant key performers along the front. Middle linebacker Cam Isbell “has been playing through some injuries and just keeps playing,” he said. “He’s been a great leader for us. Our safety, Tanner Caudle (a 5-10, 170-pound junior) is our leading tackler (with 96 stops).”

Isbell has 76 total tackles, followed by defensive back Jaxson Penn (68) and linebacker Caden Chandler (58).

Both coaches agreed that there’s nothing new needed to compete in the playoffs.

“We’re absolutely not doing any one thing differently,” Godsey said. “We kind of have a schedule. We build and plan for what we have confidence in. We’re excited to roll out there and see what happens.”

Higgins said, “We are doing like we do every week. Hopefully, that’s enough. Every week we try to do our best to have them ready. If there was anything more, we’d try it every week. I think our players’ focus has to be at a higher level and their energy level at practice has been at a high level. They know what kind of challenge we have coming.”