Straughn will play for the history books Friday night as the Tigers face Midfield in a road contest in the Class 3A quarterfinals.

SHS will make its second appearance in four years in the third round tonight, a feat it matched in 2009. The Tigers lost that battle to Cordova, 13-7.

Last week, the Tigers’ stingy defense and long scoring drives led to a 21-7 win over Trinity Presbyterian. Midfield (8-4) defeated Straughn region foe T.R. Miller, 22-20 the same night to advance.

In the Patriots’ game last week, MHS quarterback Courtney Foy — who is a UAB verbal commit — scored all of his team’s points.

“He’s special,” SHS head football coach Trent Taylor said about Foy. “There’s no other way to put it.”

Taylor said through film study, Foy can play not only at quarterback, but at running back and wide receiver.

In fact, Foy made a big reception during Midfield’s win over T.R. Miller and scored the game-winning touchdown with 4:44 left on a fourth-and-goal play, Taylor said.

When asked what it’s going to take on defense to contain the slippery quarterback, Taylor said his boys need to play “assignment conscious.”

“I think that’s very, very critical for us (tonight),” he said. “If we’re a B-gap (space on the field) responsible defender or a C-gap responsible defender, then we’ve got to be in our gap.

“Then, we’ve got to break down and tackle him,” he said.

The Tigers haven’t had too much trouble containing elusive quarterbacks during the post season.

Last week, SHS held Trinity’s Allen Wood 17-of-27 for 135 yards in passing, light day for the TPS QB.

Putting the “Xs” and “Os” aside, the biggest thing for his Tigers this week is handling the holiday schedule, Taylor said.

“This is the first year in several years that the third round has followed during the Thanksgiving holidays,” he said. “Monday and Tuesday were normal. Wednesday and Thursday, the team (went out) at 8 a.m.”

Coming off a big second-round win over TPS last week could’ve set the Tigers sites ahead a few more rounds.

Rest assured, Taylor said the team isn’t thinking ahead at all, mainly focusing on one game at a time.

“You want your kids to learn lessons from athletics they’ll take with them for the rest of their lives,” Taylor said. “So, I did tell them (Monday) that you’re going to have opportunities in life just like you’re going to have opportunities in the football game. If it’s a golden opportunity, you better jump on it. Obviously, Midfield has the same opportunity (to advance to the semifinals) and I’m sure their coaches are talking about it with their players.

“The time is here, you better think about this year until there isn’t anymore this year,” he said. “That’s what we talked to our kids about. Let’s take advantage of what we’ve got. If we’ve got enough steam left in the engine, then so be it. If Midfield’s got a little bit more, than we’ll worry about next year.”

Kick off in Midfield tonight is at 7.