Derrick Davis | The Valdosta Daily TimesClinch County offensive coordinator Don Tison celebrates a Panther touchdown run against Mitchell County last Friday in a Class A-Public quarterfinal game at Centennial Stadium in Camilla.

HOMERVILLE — The Panthers have been in this position before.

They know which ending they prefer.

Friday, No. 8 Clinch County will host a Class A-Public semifinal game at The Boneyard for the third consecutive season.

Two years ago, the Panthers experienced the highs that come with securing a spot in the state championship game. Last season, they felt the crushing low of seeing their season come to a premature end.

A 24-8 loss against McIntosh County Academy, a team Clinch had previously heated 32-7 in the regular season, dashed the Panthers’ dreams of back-to-back state titles, but it’s also fueled their drive to return this season.

“We’re really just motivated,” said senior running back/safety Kebrian Grady. “We went out sad last year. We learned from it, really.”

Defensive end John Mincey, a three-star prospect committed to Arkansas, said it wasn’t long after last year’s loss that the team made a pact to finish the job next season.

“We really made the plan right after the game that year,” Mincey said. “We made that stamp and said, ‘We’re not going out sad this year. We’re going all the way.’”

Senior center Langston Hendricks said the Clinch County coaching staff has repeatedly talked about avoiding the same kind of disappointment the team felt a year ago.

Mincey still remembers the bitter sting of defeat. He knows a loss in his senior year would be even more devastating.

“As a junior, it really hurt me,” Mincey said. “I know if we go out sad this year, I’m going to look like a little girl out here. I know I’m going to cry.”

If Clinch County comes up short in the semifinals again, it won’t be because it overlooked opponent Mount Zion-Carrollton.

The Eagles are unranked in the Georgia Sports Writers Association’s poll, but they sure got everyone’s attention with a 10-6 victory against the previously undefeated — and Class A-Public’s No. 1 seeded — Manchester Blue Devils.

Although Maxwell Rating projections currently have Clinch County as an 11-point favorite against Mount Zion in the friendly confides of Donald Tison Field, the Panthers aren’t looking ahead.

“History has a way of repeating itself, and hopefully we can learn from history,” said Clinch head coach Jim Dickerson. “Last year, I think we were in the same gap game as this. We thought we were playing an underdog in McIntosh that we’d beat. It was a gap game, and we fell in the gap.

“I hope that we’re learning from that, and we’re stressing that to the kids.”

Many of the players have heard the message loud and clear.

“We know (Mount Zion) are underdogs, but they beat the No. 1 team last week so we know they’re going to come in hot,” Hendricks said. “We’ve just got to keep it going.”

Of course, the players also have their own message and motivation in disposing of the Eagles — getting a first-look at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where the state championship games will be held Dec. 8-9.

Clinch County raised the GHSA Class A-Public championship trophy in the Georgia Dome two years ago, and now they want to become the first team to do it at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“We want to play in that Mercedes dome, have rings in both of the domes,” Grady said. “I can tell all my kids that I won it in both.”

Hendricks added: “We kind of think about, there’s no other high school football team that’s won in there. We want to be the first team in Clinch County to win there. That’s kind of our motivation.”

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.