JACKSON — On Sept. 2, Briarfield Academy’s football team didn’t so much show up for practice as it entered boot camp.

The Rebels’ defense had been torched for 62 points the night before against North Sunflower Academy, causing head coach Beau Travis to come to a simple conclusion.

“I told people if we weren’t going to tackle anybody we had to be in shape to score more points than them,” Travis said with a smile.

For the players, that meant one thing.

“We ran,” lineman Kade Howard said. “And then ran. And ran some more.”

It’s been 10 weeks and the Rebels haven’t stopped running. They’ve won eight of their last nine games, including four shutouts, and only have one obstacle left in their quest for a state championship.

Briarfield (10-2) will face Humphreys Academy (12-0) in the MAIS 8-Man championship game Saturday at 11 a.m. at Jackson Academy. It’s the first championship game appearance for Briarfield since 2006, when it played 11-man football and lost to Trinity Episcopal in the Class A final.

Briarfield, which is located in Lake Providence, La., switched to 8-Man football in 2010. It had made five playoff appearances since then and reached the semifinals twice.

“It’s amazing,” said Briarfield quarterback Holt Martin, who has thrown for 26 touchdowns and run for 17 more this season. “It’s something we all dreamed about since we were little kids, and we knew our shot was going to be our senior year. It’s surreal.”

Briarfield has averaged 41.5 points per game this season, but its real calling card is its defense. The Rebels have posted five shutouts in 12 games, including three in a row. Their last two victories were in the playoffs against two-time defending state champion Tallulah Academy and District E-2 champion Riverdale Academy.

Riverdale had beaten Briarfield 22-14 in the regular season.

Of the 180 points the Rebels have allowed, 102 came in the loss to North Sunflower and a 42-40 victory over Prentiss Christian. Defensive coordinator Will Jackson said the former provided the motivation for everyone on the team to redouble their effort and work harder.

“It’s never easy to get 62 points put on you, for sure,” Jackson said. “That wasn’t rock bottom, but it was a low point. This team fought its tails off and decided they wanted to make something of this year. These guys showed their true colors. Week by week we wanted to test them. They came out with a focus we hadn’t seen. We went back to the grindstone and tested them. They were resilient and responded every week.”

The Briarfield-Humphreys matchup is a fresh look for the 8-Man championship game. Not only is it the first appearance for both schools, it’s the first time since 2012 that neither Tallulah Academy nor Sharkey-Issaquena Academy have been in it. Both of those teams won back-to-back titles.

Ironically, both of those teams provided a checkpoint for Briarfield on its way here. The Rebels beat Tallulah twice this season, including a 16-0 victory in the first round of the playoffs.

In 2016, they beat Sharkey-Issaquena in the season finale but finished 6-4 and just missed out on a wild card berth. As much as the North Sunflower game this year, Jackson said that SIA game served as motivation for the returning seniors to get over the hump.

“We talked about it since the Sharkey game last year, that we were better than our record. It’s been our goal to make it here and show everybody what we’re all about,” Jackson said. “You can’t say enough about the eight seniors we have, and the way they’ve gotten everybody to work and pull their weight to get us here.”