Athens has already broken several negative streaks this season. The Golden Eagles broke a 14-game losing streak against Hartselle. They beat Decatur for the third year in a row for the first time since the early 1980s. They also defeated both Hartselle and Decatur in the same season for the first time since 1987.

On Friday, Athens could take a huge step toward ending another negative streak — a 14-year drought of hosting a first-round playoff game.

The Golden Eagles (4-1, 2-0 Class 6A, Region 7) host Cullman (3-3, 2-0) Friday night with a chance to exorcise those playoff demons.

The top two teams in each region host a first-round playoff game, and a win over the Bearcats would guarantee Athens second place in the region, so long as they can then beat a Columbia team next week that is riding a 37-game losing streak and hasn’t scored a point this season.

The last time Athens hosted a first-round playoff game was in 2005, when the Golden Eagles defeated Huntsville 27-20.

“That would be huge for our program to be able to do that again,” Gross said about hosting a first-round playoff game. “But we’ve got a big challenge. I think Cullman is a really good football team. They are very well coached, and I think they’re coming in here with some confidence.”

Cullman struggled to a 3-7 record last season but has a new coach in Oscar Glasscock and a wing T offense that has been giving opposing defenses fits this year. The Bearcats have scored more than 40 points in each of their two region games, including a 41-17 victory over Decatur.

Gross said the wing T is hard to stop because not a lot of teams run that type of offense anymore. It gives the quarterback plenty of options to hand the ball off, keep it himself or throw downfield.

“It takes discipline to be able to play against the wing T,” Gross said. “If your eyes are in the wrong place or you’re trying to find the ball, you’re not going to find the ball. You’re going to find it in the end zone. It makes you defensively be very disciplined because if you’re not, you’re going to be in for a long night.”

Athens runs a very different style of offense, operating a spread from the shotgun formation, but they have the same goal as Cullman — run the ball effectively while mixing in a little bit of the pass.

Athens is averaging 295 rushing yards per game and has three players — Jordan Scott, Jaelen Cates and Julius Mayberry — averaging more than 8 yards per carry.

“We’ve been able to run the football and we’re going to have to continue to do that,” Gross said. “But we’ve thrown the ball a little better the past couple of weeks, and that’s a trend that’s got to continue.”

With both teams preferring to run the football, Friday’s game could consist of long, time-consuming drives. For that reason, Gross said it’s important to take advantage of every offensive possession.

“Any fans who like to arrive late, you’d better not arrive too late,” Gross said with a laugh. “Because this game may be over with before 9 o’clock. It will be moving pretty quick. It does put extra value on your possessions because you may not get the ball that many times.”