The Cedartown Bulldogs will be facing some of the stiffest competition yet as they cruised through another big game at home in the second round of the Class AAAA playoffs last week over the Cairo Syrupmakers in a 48-14 finish.

The Bulldogs now have to face a Perry Panthers squad for the first time ever that is a pass-happy offense with a stingy defense not used to giving up yards or points in their 11-1 run through the season so far.

Perry finished in first place in their region coming into the game, and have gotten there thanks to a 2,700+ yard passing season and 29 touchdowns thrown by Junior Quarterback Armar Gordon to a variety of wide receivers and tight ends in the offense.

His most prolific target has been Daequan Wright, who has more than 1,000 yards receiving on the year. He’s also got sophomore Dakarai Anderson available as a passing target as well, with more than 700 yards receiving for much of the offensive yards gained for the Panthers season this year.

The Bulldogs will have to shut down that high-flying offense – and try to increase the interception tally of Gordon at the same time (13 as of last Friday) – while also staying off the field to ensure the Cedartown offense has plenty of chances to score.

Cedartown will be looking toward their backfield on the ground to get them into the end zone once again. Harlem Diamond, CJ Washington and Patrick Gardner are all available to take a handoff, along with a group of younger guys like Khamarion Davis to put together long drives and first downs.

Jarred Fuller with 101 tackles on the season and Caleb Wilson are the two defensive leaders for the Panthers who will try to stop that Cedartown ground attack. The team has combined for more than 800 tackles on the year, and have only given up 111 points all year between non-region and region foes.

Look for the Bulldogs to make the trip to Perry fresh off their big win over Cairo and kickoff at 7:30 p.m. in middle Georgia.

Listen into WGAA Radio 106.1 FM for coverage from the game, or tune into the live stream from the NFHS network as well.

My pick? Tune into more picks on the WGAA Pregame show tonight to hear where I stand at the end of the show.