Perry football to look for second quarterfinals appearance in a row as they host Eastside

The Panthers had an incredible defensive performance in the opening round of the GHSA playoffs in their 38-13 win over St. Pius X Catholic, and they’ll look to keep it going as Eastside comes to town.

The Eagles are 10-1 and the second seed in Region 8-5A. They beat Hampton 42-0 in the first round, and their only loss is to North Oconee (40-35) in October, and that’s the only game they’ve played that’s been decided by less than two scores.

Here are three things to watch as the Eagles come to the Panther Pit:

High-scoring offense

Eastside’s offense is maybe one of the most high-scoring the Panthers have faced this year.

The Eagles average 37 points per game, and have scored more than 40 points in seven of their 11 games played this season. They’ve scored more than 50 twice, and more than 60 once.

A big part of that is an offense that averages 363 yards per game and has one turnover the entire year — the national average for yards per game is 277 according to MaxPreps.

For reference, Perry averages 320 yards per game, and 31 points per game Houston County averages almost 32 points per game and 409.9 yards per game.

Three-headed dragon

One of the biggest reasons the Eagles are able to score so many points is their three-headed dragon at running back: Myles Mims, Jayden Barr and Tyler Solomon.

The trio combined for 2038 yards and 33 rushing touchdowns; The team has a total of 2530 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns.

The bell cow of the room is Barr, who is tied for the most carries with 90, second in yards with 762 and leads in touchdowns by far with 20.

The reason he doesn’t have more production, most likely, is that he also plays strong safety at 6-foot-1 and 187 pounds.

That size at running back isn’t uncommon, but it’s certainly not standard. He also runs a 4.43 40-yard-dash, which is faster than many if not most high school athletes.

Mims is impressive in his own right, and is definitely more explosive. He accelerates at a much faster rate and a lot of his yards will come after contact — he’s difficult to bring down. Mims is responsible for 90 carries, 820 yards and eight rushing touchdowns.

Then there’s Solomon, who does have standard running back size at 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds. He is just behind the other two in terms of carries at 85, has 456 yards and five touchdowns. His average per carry is nearly half of the others’.

Watch out for the boys on the second level

There’s a pair of linebackers for the Eagles who are very productive when it comes to catching opponents behind the sticks.

Senior linebackers Bailey Benson and Christian Gass have recorded 12 and 11 tackles for a loss respectively, and three and six sacks respectively.

Benson is listed as a middle linebacker, but is frequently seen bringing pressure off of the edge. Gass is listed as an outside linebacker, and that’s where you’ll find him.

Kickoff is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Panther Pit.