Tanner will face off with No. 5 Pisgah in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs on Friday night.

Here’s a quick look at the matchup to be contested inside Rip Swanner Stadium.

Team: Tanner (8-3, 6-0 in Class 2A, Region 8)

Opponent: No. 5 Pisgah (10-1, 6-1 in Class 2A, Region 7)

All-Time Series: Pisgah leads 2-1

The Skinny: For the second time in three years under head coach Oscar Bonds, the Rattlers find themselves in the second round of the playoffs.

For the team to achieve its first quarterfinal appearance since 2016, it must get past a high-scoring Pisgah squad that averages 48.7 points per game.

The Eagles have capitalized on the momentum of reaching the semifinals last season — their only loss coming to No. 2 Fyffe (56-42) back in Week 9.

Bonds, meanwhile, is hoping to avoid another barnburner like his team experienced in its first-round win over Lamar County (64-55).

Quotes of Note: “I haven’t been pleased with our defense for the last two games now. To me, defense wins championships, and if we can stop people, we have a chance against anyone.” — Oscar Bonds

“Pisgah is a well-coached and disciplined football team. They make a lot of big plays on offense, so we are going to have to play smart and fast on defense to compete with them. Our strength is in the trenches defensively, so it’s really going to be on our back end with our linebackers and safeties to make the plays necessary for us to win the game.” — Oscar Bonds

“You can only celebrate a win for about 48 hours in the playoffs. Then, the preparation for the next team starts immediately. Our guys have been really focused in practice so far and that’s important, because we’ll need them physically and mentally prepared for this Pisgah team coming in.” — Oscar Bonds