The Jefferson Dragons will visit Buddy Bufford Field this Friday night to try to burn our Red Devils in the first round of the Class A playoffs.
Jefferson is 5-5 in 2005, but four of those losses came to playoff teams. Looking at common opponents with our Devils, the Dragons lost to Warren County 25-6, Athens Academy 17-14, and Commerce 33-15. The Dragons have played Lincoln County twice, with both games in Lincolnton. In the first playoff round in 2001, LC defeated Jefferson 26-14. A more memorable game for the LCHS faithful is the 1977 state title game when the Devils won 22-7 for the Class B championship.
Jefferson finished as the #4 seed in Region 8-A, behind Social Circle, Commerce, and Athens Academy.
The Dragons are coached by Bill Navas, who is familiar with Lincoln County. In fact, Coach Navas won his last game in Lincolnton in 2001 when his Hephzibah Rebels defeated our Devils 10-0 in an overtime game to start the season that would be the Devils' worst in 30 years. After a 1-1 record against LCHS in 2000 and 2001, Navas left Class AAAA Hephzibah to become coach and athletic director at Jefferson High. Click here for article on Navas.
Our Devils were missing several players due to injuries last Friday, but most are expected to return this week or next week (should our Devils win). If Lincoln County wins this week, it will host the winner of Friday's game when Gordon Lee visits Eagles Landing Christian Academy.
For a good preview of this week's Class A games, click here for a GAVSV post by OceanTiger.