Eufaula has averaged 38.6 points per game, but Fairfield has given up only 4.5 and shut out their last four regular season opponents. The most points scored on Fairfield this season was in a losing effort to Pleasant Grove (9-2), 16-9. Eufaula scored their highest tally of the season, 62, against B.T. Washington (4-6). Coach Dan Klages' squad had six games this season scoring over 40 points. Both teams outscore their opponents at a rate of 4-1.
Many think Fairfield is the underdog in this match-up regardless of the homefield advantage, but don't tell that to the purple and gold Tigers from west Jefferson County. Fairfield is a generational community. If you live there, chances are your family lived there before you. That breeds a lot of devotion to the school and the program.
"We were out on the field the other night and had the lights on and people came by blowing their horns. People are riding down the streets with their Fairfield High School flags on their cars," coach Jim Vakakes shared with ScoutSouth.com. "It's an exciting time. Folks here haven't had these consistent play-off appearances, ever. The whole community is excited, and we're just going to see how far we can go. We are just taking it a week at a time and see how far we can go."
Fairfield has standout talents in defensive tackle Darius Jackson, linebacker Stanley Scarborough, defensive end Darryl Parks and defensive backs Erick Daniel, Derick Daniel and Julian Mallory.
"Eufaula has a great quarterback in Jerrell Jernigan," Vakakes states. "The fullback, Shyrone Parker, is a hard runner. He hits the hole quick. The tailback (Chris Williams) is good too."
"They run the veer out of the I-formation like teams ran back in the seventies. That's something we don't see around here. I know how to defend it, but it's getting the kids to learn how to do it. It doesn't matter what I know, it's what they know. It's been a learning experience this week for the kids."
"Oh, they've seen a little option, but not what these guys do. One missed assignment, and it's six points. It is assignment football. Everybody has an assignment. Dive. Quarterback pitch. I told our kids you can't try to overplay your buddy's position. You take care of what you are assigned to do."
Vakakes continued, "I know we are going to play hard and well defensively. We just can't miss assignments and, in all fairness to our guys they've never seen this offense before. It's a tremendous challenge for us. I think our kids are physically able to do it, but it gets to be mental too. I don't want to take away their aggressiveness because that's the thing that our defense is built on, aggressiveness and speed. If you get them thinking too much, it's going to take away their reaction time, and that's not good for us."
We asked about the 185 mile journey Fairfield will take. "We are going to leave around 9:30 in the morning [Friday] on the buses with our police escort. Then we will stop around Montgomery and feed them lunch," Vakakes reads from the itinerary.
"We will probably arrive in Eufaula around 1:30. We're going to take them to the state park, and let them stretch a little bit and just chill. We are probably going to ride them around Eufaula a bit, and let them see the town. Eufaula is a quaint town with antebellum homes. Old Southern homes. It's a pretty little town, and they really get behind their football program. I think the weather is going to be decent, around 60-65 degrees. We will have our pre-game meal at 2:30 and get to the stadium about a quarter till four."
"We're bringing the band with us on two buses. Our kids really want the band there. So we are going to help them get down there, and then we have three to four parent buses going. A lot of parents are driving. They don't want to ride the bus. It will surprise me if we don't have a great crowd. It will surprise me tremendously. Our team travels really well."
We turned thoughts over to the offense, and coach Vakakes is quick to hand out praise to his assistants and to the opponent's coaches.
"Coach Tim (Vakakes) has another great game plan and their defense is very similar to ours," he said. "They attack and run to the ball well, and coach Klages does a great job. They do a great job coaching them."
Farifield took on Williamson High School last week and won 14-3. Williamson is the home to LSU star quarterback, JaMarcus Russell.
"That bunch was the most athletic looking bunch I've ever seen," the amazed Vakakes states. "Nick Fairley looks like a 25-year old man. He slammed our quarterback (Jarius McFarland) to the ground one time, and he looked like a little ragdoll. We know we played a team last week that's got more athletes than we've seen this season. We feel pretty good about beating a team with that many athletes."
"Eufaula is going to be a challenge. We're 10-1, so we're not bad. I wish we had them at home, but you know good teams will win anywhere."
Fairfield's team has a maturity like few we've seen this year. Interviewing them on Saturday after a win, they are ready to talk about next week instead of what they just accomplished.
We asked coach Vakakes what he attributes that to.
"I think it is maturity," he said. "We have 16 seniors. Four of our secondary starters are seniors. Eufaula is not going to care what we did last week. I take the game films home on Sunday. If someone asks to see something, I tell them it's gone."
If Fairfield can pull this one off maybe coach Vakakes will give them an extra day with the film, but we doubt it.
Fairfield will take on Eufaula Friday night at 7:00PM.
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