The Sweet Water Bulldogs (10-2) play host to the Lamar County Bulldogs (9-3) on Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the Class 2A AHSAA playoffs.

One of Lamar County’s assistant coaches, Dan Thornton, passed away on Saturday, so their team will be playing with a lot of emotion to start the game Friday night. Sweet Water head coach Stacy Luker said he expects that, but he does not think they can keep it up through the whole game.

“They will be emotional to start the game,” he said. “They will play for him, but it’s hard to think they will carry that through the whole game.”

Lamar County’s main weapon offensively is their quarterback, according Luker.

“He ran for over 1,000 yards this year,” he said, “and also threw for over 1,000 this season.”

Luker added that the most physical team will win the game.

“The most physical team that wins the line of scrimmage will win the game Friday night,” he said. “They play the same way we do; they run the ball. They run the Notre Dame box formation and sometimes the I-formation. That fits our style.”

The winner of this game will move on to the semifinal round and will play the winner of the game between Washington County and Mobile Christian, both of which Sweet Water defeated in region play during the regular season.