With a 20-14 loss to Chapel Hill last week, South Paulding’s hopes of repeating as sub-region champions went by the wayside. But with a win in Friday night’s region play-in game against Kell, the Spartans still have a chance to make 2011 the best in school history.

“We’ve talked about goals all year. We wanted to improve on our record [from last year] and get into the playoffs,” said South Paulding coach Tim Glanton. “And to do that it’s simple, we have to get past this play-in round on Friday.”

The play-in round is where South Paulding (6-3 overall) saw its season come to an end in 2010.

A year ago the Spartans were sub-region champions in 5AAAA-South and held the No. 1 seed, but fell to Pope 35-28 in a game they led by two touchdowns just before halftime.

The Spartans could have regained that top seed this year with a win over Chapel Hill, but fell behind early after a sluggish first half.

“Bottom line was we came out in the first half and didn’t play well. We didn’t block, we didn’t tackle and we spotted them some easy points,” said Glanton of last week’s loss that ended South Paulding’s five-game win streak. “If we play like we did in the first of that game against Kell, well then, they are a team that can put a lot of points on us.”

Kell (7-2 overall), the No. 3 seed from 5AAAA-North, was region champion a year ago and finished in a three-way tie for first place this year with Pope and East Paulding. But a series of tie-breakers dropped them down to the third seed. Their only two losses came at the hands of top 10-rated teams East Paulding and Grayson.

“They are a lot like us with a really good defense and set of linebackers that are great against the run,” said Glanton. “But the toughest matchup is their offensive line that is probably the best that we will see this season.”

Operating from a spread offense, Kell’s offense started the season slowly but has come on strong of late. The Longhorns racked up 436 yards rushing last week in a dominating win over Sprayberry that saw three running backs go over 100 yards.

The task of stopping that offense will fall on South Paulding’s defense — which has allowed just 12 points per game this season.

“Games like this come down to who can execute on offense and tackle on defense. It’s do-or-die and the kids shouldn’t have any problems getting motivated for this one,” said Glanton.