MEADVILLE &8212; The Franklin County Bulldogs (13-1) are one game away from a state title, and standing in their way is perhaps their best competition yet.

The Nettleton Tigers (14-0) come into the game the top-ranked team in the MHSAA&8217;s Class 3A, and have steamrolled the competition, averaging more than 40 points per game en route to the title game.

The two will meet today at 3 p.m. at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson.

&8220;They&8217;ve been No. 1 as long as I can remember,&8221; said Franklin County head coach Grady McCluskey. &8220;They&8217;re very good on offense. They&8217;ve got two or three good receivers and a good quarterback. They&8217;ll be a challenge for us.&8221;

With a defense that has improved dramatically over the last nine games, and an offense that has struggled at times to put points on the board, McCluskey felt his defense would have to carry the load throughout the game.

&8220;I think our defense stopping their offense is going to be the key to the game. We&8217;ve been playing a lot better (defensively) since the Natchez game. Our offense is going to have to play better, but it&8217;s hard to score a lot of points on teams like Collins and Hazlehurst. We&8217;re going to have to score, but we want to keep it low-scoring if we can. We don&8217;t want to have to catch them and get in a Natchez-type situation. The key is if our defense can slow their offense down.&8221;

McCluskey said the Bulldog offense is prepared to take any measure necessary to move the ball on the Tiger defense.

&8220;We need to get outside. We&8217;ll have to throw the ball a little bit. We&8217;ll try to do what we&8217;ve been doing &8212; running the ball straight at them. I don&8217;t know if we can do that. I think we can get outside on them and throw on them a little more. We&8217;ll do what we&8217;ve got to do to win the game. We&8217;ve worked on everything we can work on.&8221;

McCluskey said he had given the team a break in practice this week, and hopes all will be physically and mentally prepared for a championship game today.

&8220;We haven&8217;t done a whole lot of hitting,&8221; he said. &8220;We haven&8217;t done a lot of running. We wanted to bet their bodies back healed up after 15 weeks of grinding. We took them to Jackson yesterday to the stadium and walked around.

&8220;I don&8217;t see how they couldn&8217;t be fired up and ready to play. Not many teams ever get there. I think they&8217;ll be ready to roll. We want them as fresh as we can get them. I think we&8217;ll be ready. We can&8217;t afford not to be.&8221;