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Kenny Fey

Daniel High School’s DeAndre Hopkins (11) leads the Lions onto the field against Southside earlier this season at Singleton Field in Central. This Friday, the unbeaten Lions will open the playoffs at home against Berea.

CENTRAL — Coming off its third straight region title and second straight undefeated season, hosting a first-round playoff game isn’t exactly something out of the ordinary for the Daniel High School football team.

And advancing out of the first round isn’t something that would catch the Lions by surprise either, as they have done so in the past and head into Friday’s matchup with Berea as considerable favorites.

But favorites or not, Daniel head coach Randy Robinson knows that the would-be experts aren’t the ones playing the games. With so much at stake, Robinson hopes he has convinced the Lions that there are no easy opponents and this point, and nothing is guaranteed.

“Anybody can win on Friday night, anything can happen,” Robinson said. “Our assistant coaches do a great job and when we met Sunday we talked Berea and nothing else. If we don’t beat Berea, no one else matters.”

That message may have gotten through to his coaches, but took a day to get through to some of the players.

With eight new starters from last year’s team, there are Lion players who have yet to know what it’s like to compete in a postseason game.

And when practice began this week on Monday, some of that inexperience began to show itself.

Yet despite the inexperience that does exist, the veteran presence is even greater, and it wasn’t long before some of the players who have contributed to some of the recent successful Lion teams intervened.

“I think that was just the excitement, the new kids getting in the playoffs,” Robinson said. “I kind of challenged the seniors to settle the scene down and get them back to focus. Tuesday and Wednesday were a lot better.”

That initial excitement, though, was in some ways understandable when looking back on a week ago.

Not only was it the regular season finale, but it was the Lions’ most dominating performance of the season.

Daniel destroyed Pickens 70-7, which was actually just what Robinson had hoped for after what he felt was a lackluster performance the week before against West-Oak.

“We came out playing at the start of the game. We felt we came out flat two weeks ago and we wanted to make sure we came out with intensity. We got on Pickens early and then things got pretty easy after that.”

While things may never get quite as easy again this year as they were during stretches against the Blue Flame, Robinson is going to be going forward with a tool that he hasn’t had since Week 6.

Brandon Anderson, Daniel’s leading back until shoulder and leg injuries forced him to the sidelines in a game against Woodmont, will be dressed for the first time since that game.

His return will give Daniel the versatility it probably hadn’t even dreamed of when he initially got hurt. That is because in Anderson’s absence, C.J. Davidson has turned himself into an every down back, picking up yard after yard despite teams focusing almost exclusively on him.

However, that won’t even make up the full extent of the newly healthy backfield.

Fullback William Wingard is also back to full health after spraining his ankle two weeks ago against West-Oak.

That gives Daniel two very capable running options and its best blocker as it starts its playoff run.

“Hopefully we’ll get him a little action,” Robinson said of Anderson. “It looks like we’ll have all three of them ready to go Friday.”

Having that type of health is especially important when looking at this week’s opponent.

Berea finished fourth in the Peach Blossom 3A region this year. Despite going 5-5, however, they have shown they are a team that is capable of doing plenty of damage if put in the right position.

The main reason for the success that the Bulldogs have had comes from the type of big-play and athletic ability they have on offense.

“Offensively, they’ve got explosive guys,” Robinson said. “We probably haven’t seen this breakaway speed since B-HP (Week 8). For our defense, it’s going to be a good challenge. It’s the first time we’ve seen a team that can run like this in a while.”

The Lions won that game over Belton-Honea Path, 24-7, holding nearly everyone on the Bears’ offense in check.

It is that type of performance that will most likely be necessary for Daniel if it wants to move out of the first round and take aim at round two.

For now though, the focus is strictly on Berea and picking up a first round victory.