TIFTON — En route to the state finals in 1997, the Tift County Blue Devils met up with the Brookwood Broncos in the semifinals.

Worth Bowers threw three touchdown passes, including a 50-yarder to Dee Andrews, in a 21-14 victory.

Tift County (11-1) challenges Brookwood (10-2) again tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Brookwood Community Stadium in Snellville. The winner moves on to the state Class AAAAAAA semifinals and will play the victor between Colquitt County and Archer. The game is set to be broadcast by Georgia Public Broadcasting, starting at 7 p.m.

In 1997, Brookwood entered the contest with a 26-game winning streak.

Twenty years later, the Broncos’ win streak entering the game is not as long; currently it is a more modest 10 games, but there are similarities in origins.

When Brookwood started the long win streak in 1996, the Broncos began the season 0-2. This year, they dropped their first two games, one to Archer (25-17) and one to Walton (42-35).

Blue Devils head coach Ashley Anders found it difficult to describe Brookwood’s offense.

“They’re not really complicated in what they do,” he said, “but they are good at what they do.”

A look at the Broncos’ stats seem to show a team that does more with less.

Quarterback Angelo DiSpigna is also the team’s usual punter. Matthew Hill, who has the second most rushing yardage on the squad, is the leading receiver.

Hill is the most celebrated of Brookwood’s players. An Auburn commit, he has 723 receiving yards on the season, with seven touchdowns, and 536 rushing yards. Before the season, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution named him to its “Super 11” team, composed of some of the state’s brightest football prospects.

Anders said Brookwood had “two really good receivers and two really good running backs.”

The Broncos’ leading rusher is Dante Black, who has run for 28 touchdowns and 1,633 yards. No slouch in the receiving department, Black has caught four touchdowns and has just over 250 yards in that department.

Another standout receiver for the team is Nick Prince, who is listed at 366 receiving yards by the school.

Then there is DiSpigna.

Not a traditional runner, compared to other quarterbacks the Blue Devils have faced, DiSpigna is still very mobile.

“He’s not a scrambler,” Anders said, “but good at avoiding pressure.”

That type of play is the scariest bit about Brookwood to him, the ability to scramble and make plays: “Lining up and run, run, run, then chunk it deep.”

DiSpigna had 184 yards last week in the 28-23 second round win over Milton and 1,782 yards for the season. He has thrown 19 touchdowns and has only been picked off twice.

While the schools have only played each other once in history, Anders and assistants do have some points of reference as to what Brookwood can do. On Sept. 15, the Broncos defeated Colquitt County, 42-25. Anders said the score was even closer than it appeared.

“I don’t think it was as bad as indicated,” he said.

Anders said it was a “slip-up” game for Colquitt, one where the Packers did not play as well as they normally do. Match-ups on the offensive and defensive line worked further to Brookwood’s advantage.

He does hope that Brookwood is on their heels after three drives in last week’s Tift game with Hillgrove.

Three times in the first half Hillgrove pinned Tift inside the 1 yard line on punts. All three times the Blue Devils worked their way out, with two 99-yard touchdown drives. That, he said, might give the Broncos a bit more to worry about.

The two 99-scoring drives came in the second quarter. One ended with a 18-yard touchdown run by Shamel Johnson, the other on a four-yard pass from Griffin Collier to Rashod Bateman. The touchdown was Bateman’s 18th of the season, though he was held to only 25 yards on seven receptions.

While Hillgrove was using their resources to limit Bateman, Tyler Ajiero and Jameson Turner stepped up in his place. Ajiero had 69 receiving yards and Turner had two catches for 27 yards. Both of Turner’s receptions were crucial third down receptions, Anders said.

The Devils had a 31-14 lead in the fourth quarter before Hillgrove started a comeback with 8:52 remaining. After Casey Engram corralled a punt snap with a minute left, Hillgrove was stopped at midfield trying to lateral the football.

Collier broke his own school record Friday for passing yards in a season. He now has 2730 for the year, with 29 touchdowns and six picks.

Jones, who with Johnson, scored twice on rushes, is nearing 1,200 yards on the year.