There are similarities and differences between Jefferson and Mary Persons, schools are both located not far from an interstate, nor from a larger city.

            Jefferson is in a county with two public high schools, while Mary Persons is the lone high school in Monroe County.

            The big-picture history favors Mary Persons fairly strongly, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, which has Mary Persons with 143 more wins and 29 fewer losses in 10 more seasons.

            Each has won only one state title –Mary Persons in 1980 in Class AA and Jefferson in 2012 in the same class.

            The Bulldogs have been a program of stability, with only four head coaches since 1959, while the Dragons have had one more than that since the turn of the century.

            But Mary Persons welcomes a team that has four region titles in that span since 2000 and is making its fifth quarterfinals trip in since 2012 when the Dragons make their debut Friday at Dan Pitts Stadium in a Class AAAA quarterfinal.

            And 12 games into the season, Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson still isn’t quite sure what kind of team he has. The Bulldogs are 10-2, and the losses are to Class 6A quarterfinalist Lee County and Class AAA quarterfinalist Peach County.

            The Bulldogs had chances to beat Lee County, and chances to keep the 35-14 loss to the Trojans much closer, close enough to have a chance.

            In about eight games, Mary Persons has left two or more touchdowns on the field, including in the two playoff games.

            “Oh yeah, yeah,” Nelson said. “Could’ve been a lot more. Instead of 27-0 against Carver, could’ve been 42.”

            He noted a touchdown pass called back for a penalty, and then another seeming touchdown pass that, well, didn’t happen.

            “He caught the ball, was running down the field,” Nelson said. “I started calling for the extra point, and you look down and the ball’s on the ground around the 5-yardline.”

            The Bulldogs have kept some opponents in games longer than expected with the extra chances.

            “Some of it’s just concentration and focus sometimes,” said Nelson, 61-14 in his sixth season and in his third quarterfinal. “

            They haven’t paid for it yet, and Jefferson is certainly a team that can end the Bulldogs’ season on their home turf.

            Jefferson handed top-4 Ridgeland its first loss of the season last week, 28-21, in the second round. The Dragons trailed 14-0 and scored 28 points.

            Running back Colby Wood was a first-team all-state pick last year by the Georgia Sports Writers Association, joining then-senior Zach Harvey of Mary Persons. Wood, who also plays defense, has nearly 6,300 career yards, and had a 2,000-yard year as a sophomore.

            He has more than 1,400 yards this season, and made up for only 73 yards last week with long kickoff returns of 46 and 73 yards. Quarterback Bryce Moore was 11 of 19 for 159 yards and three touchdowns, all to Zac Corbin. Wood is also a receiving threat.

            “They’re just a solid football team, well-coached,” Nelson said. “(Wood) is a good running back, they go ta good possession-type receiver, they play hard on defense. Don’t make many mistakes.”

            Which Nelson would like to say about his own team for more than a few quarters.

            In the first half against Baldwin last week, the Bulldogs kept things close with mistakes.

            “First half, we played that old jump offsides, get a long run and have a penalty, score a touchdown, penalty, third and lock, stop ‘em, we hit the quarterback late, 15 yards, first down,” Nelson said.

            The second half?

            “We played about as good football as we’ve played all year.”

            The Bulldogs aren’t necessarily playing like they practice.

            “We’re not doing that stuff during the week,” Nelson said. “Now, we’re not out there calling penalties … But it ain’t like it’s, ‘I saw that coming, he ain’t caught it all week in practice.’ This week, we focused on that stuff, probably moreso than we have all year.

            “Still, those are just things that the longer you play, they come back to haunt you.”

The Bulldogs have been efficient on offense, led by quarterback J.T. Hartage, who has passed for 1,602 yards and is completing 67.9 percent of his passes.

            Running back Quen Wilson has battled injuries and still leads the Bulldogs with 715 yards, but Bralen Harvey has been steady as well with 693 yards. Antoine Davis and Deadrek Alford are Hartage’s top targets.

            Ladamion Sands, Jatorian Hansford and Daniel Lavelle each average at least 7 tackles to lead the defense, which has two shutouts.

            “We’re getting better,” Nelson said. “We’re probably not as good as we’ve been the past few years on defense, but we’re probably better on offense.”