The Wayne Bulldogs (7-3) begin their playoff run this Friday night when they travel to Thomas to face the Terriers (9-1) at Ross Field at 7 p.m. as the class A State playoffs begin in earnest.

The Bulldogs finished the season fourth in their District which puts them on the road for the duration of the playoffs.

“I'm very proud of our kids for getting back into the playoffs,” head coach Brandon Sharp said.

“It's been an uphill battle but our kids worked hard to get where we are. I expect us to go to Thomas and compete and give ourselves a chance to win.“

Thomas bases out of an odd stack on the defensive side of the ball and Sharp said his offensive line will be tested by the Terriers.

“They have a MIKE linebacker that is as good as we've seen. He finds the football and doesn't make mistakes,” Sharp said.

“They're big and physical and they control the interior line with their defensive lineman.”

Thomas dropped one game in the regular season to Mangum who Sharp said was one of the best teams in the larger Class A division.

“They gave Mangum all they wanted. Thomas is just an extremely talented group and they’re very well coached,”Sharp said.

“Coach Ward has been there over 20 years and just does an outstanding job with his kids.”

The Terriers linebacker play allows their secondary to play free and Sharp said they're an exceptional group of athletes.

Offensively, the Terriers run everything through their quarterback who has an outstanding arm and puts the ball on the money in the passing game.

“I can't say enough about how seamlessly they do things out of multiple offensive formations. They're a great unit and they run their offense sets very well,” Sharp said.

Sharp said he and his staff have been looking for weaknesses from Thomas but that there aren’t a lot.

“They’re well deserving of their ranking and we'll have to play extremely well. We've been fighting all year for this opportunity and I know our kids are going to play well. We want to get to the fourth quarter and give ourselves a chance to win the ball game,” Sharp said.

Last Friday night the Bulldogs fell to the Ringling Blue Devils on Senior Night, 46-8.

“They came out extremely physical and we knew their offense was going to be tough to stop,” Sharp said.

Ringling led 28-0 after the first quarter and took a 40-0 lead to the locker room at halftime.

Wayne got on the scoreboard in the third quarter on a seven-yard pass from Eli Stottlemyre to Langstyn McClendon. Tyler Collins was successful on his two-point handoff.

Ringling led 40-8 after three quarters of play and added one touchdown in the fourth to end the scoring.

“We were outmanned and they got after us and were more physical up-front,” Sharp said.

Due to injuries Wayne was forced to play a number of players out of position and some that had not received many reps throughout the season.

“We had several kids playing out of position but there are no excuses. They whipped us and jumped on us early,” Sharp said.

“They didn't look back from the opening kick. It's frustrating to get down like that and not be able to battle back but that's the way it goes when you play good teams.”

Bulldog notes:

Head coach Brandon Sharp had no player of the week nominees.