The lights on the scoreboard at Anderson Stadium still brightly told a nice quarterfinal story, but by the time Peach County players huddled around head coach Chad Campbell, they had moved on.

          Memories of last year’s semifinal had already pretty much eased memories of this year’s quarterfinal to the side, and one could hear talk of payback and owing somebody.

          Peach County knew what was next, the chance to get back at Greater Atlanta Christian for last year’s 13-7 semifinal loss on the Trojans’ field.

          Certainly anxious for the Spartans, Peach County did no looking ahead in dismantling Westminster 45-15 to advance to its second straight semifinal.

          “Not a word,” Campbell said of the Westminster week and talk of what was after that. “Not one word I heard from anybody saying anything (about GAC).”

          The result was Peach County’s seventh win this season by 30 points or more, and second in the postseason. And that allowed the Trojans to start thinking about last year’s meeting, no matter how painful.

          One day short of a year ago, the teams played in the semifinals, and the Spartans pulled out a 13-7 win in Fort Valley.

          “Too many mistakes,” Campbell said. “We didn’t turn the ball over until late in the game. We had mistakes that just led to us not performing. We got behind the sticks too much last year, the offensive line played like mess, had about five or six dropped passes, three or four on critical downs.”

          Further evidence it wasn’t the Trojans’ night was missing field goals of 42 and 37 yards, the first misses of the season under 49 yards.

          And still, the Trojans were in a very winnable game, thanks mostly to the defense.

          “We gave up some yards, but only gave up one touchdowns,” Campbell said. “I don’t think they’d been held to 13 points in forever.”

          Well, not for a good long while.

          Before that night, the last time GAC was held below 14 points was in a 28-0 shutout loss to Buford on Oct. 21, 2011. Since then, the Spartans had been held to 14 points once in 2014 (14-7 win over Lovett), 2013 (17-14 loss to Lovett), 2012 (42-14 loss to Jefferson).

          The Trojans, meanwhile, failed to crack double digits for the first time since a stunning 3-2 loss – yup, 3-2 – to Jackson on Oct. 16, 2015. A year earlier, Peach County was shocked 14-7 by Appling County in the first round.

          So, that’s four times for each in the same span: four GAC games of less than 14 points, four Peach County games of less than 10 points.

          “We just couldn’t get anything offensively,” Campbell said. “Last year, I think the stage might’ve been a little to big for a few of ‘em. It can be overwhelming.”

          That’s unlikely to happen this year, with a senior quarterback, senior tailback, mostly seniors and juniors on the offensive line, and nine seniors and juniors starting on defense, plus senior kicker/punter Mitchell Fineran.

          The Trojans haven’t looked back since losing 38-35 on Sept. 1 to Warner Robins on a buzzer-beating field goal. The stretch leading to the semis this year is fairly similar to last year’s.

          ‘Our last bad ballgame we played was game 2 against Warner Robins,” he said of last year’s 20-19 win over a rebuilding Warner Robins team that finished 3-8. “We had played the last eight weeks of the season and then the playoffs, we played well. We really played our most complete game in the quarterfinal.”

          That was a 27-17 win over a stronger-than-2017 Westminster team, and on the road. Then?

          “We just stunk the place up the following week,” Campbell said. “We couldn’t execute.”

          The Spartans picked off a pass on the final play of the game after holding the Trojans to about 80 yards and four touchdowns below average.

          And GAC is back, 12-1 again, the lone loss this year 28-22 to Valor Christian of Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

          Campbell does have video of that game, but he doesn’t need much tape to brush up.

          Quarterback Josh Rose has completed 56.2 percent of his passes for 1,192 yards, 15 touchdowns and two interceptions in taking over for Davis Mills, who passed for nearly 4,600 yards in his final two seasons and is now at Stanford.

          Kyler McMichael – a Clemson commit - has 1,382 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns on the ground, nearly half of GAC’s 52 rushing touchdowns.

          Five different players have rushed for at least three touchdowns, and Alex Boglin and Montae Bailey have basically split 1,200 rushing yards. Max Burke has 24 catches for 382 yards and seven touchdowns, both team highs.

           Robby Fowler tops the defense with 4.5 tackles a game, and Hunter Cole has four interceptions and averages 35 yards a return.

          “They ain’t much different than what they did last year,” Campbell said. “Very multiple on offense, multiple on defense. They try to put pressure on you.”

          GAC and Peach County are fairly similar, especially on defense. Only 32 yards separate them in total offense, but Antonio Gilbert has connected on 68.6 percent of his passes for 2,705 yards and 21 interceptions with one interception.

          “He can make all the throws,” Campbell said of Gilbert, who is without receiver Kearis Jackson (wrist) but found sophomore tight end Sergio Allen twice last week for 48 yards and regularly connects with about five receivers a game. “I don’t have any problem saying that at all.”

          Trevon Woolfolk has taken over the top tailback spot for injured Chris Gibson, and passed 1,000 yards for the season last week. Gilbert is a threat, and sophomore Noah Whittington has stepped up.

          The defense is a typical Peach County defense: physical and fast. Linebacker Jacquez Jackson and defensive back Shamarcus Redding give the Trojans a measure of leadership as the top two tacklers. Redding had two interceptions against Westminster to up his total to four for the season, all in the postseason.

          Campbell is quite confident that the Trojans can handle this year’s stage, even on the road at modern facilities. More than, there’s the focus from avoiding last year’s mess.

          “If you’re a competitor, you get punched in the mouth, you want to face that group again,” Campbell said. “ ‘I want to see if I can not make the same mistakes that got my tail beat the first time.’ I think the kids are going to perform better this year.”