It's not been very hard for Greeneville Coach Caine Ballard to get the attention of his Greene Devils this week.

All you have to do is point out that this week's opponent, Chattanooga Brainerd, defeated Austin-East earlier this year by a 19-8 margin in a game played on the Roadrunners' home turf.

"All you have to do is look at their scores, and see where they beat Austin-East, and that should be enough right there to tell you what they are capable of," Ballard said as his Devils were preparing for their second round game in the TSSAA Class 4A Playoffs.

The Devils will face Brainerd on Friday at 7 p.m. at Burley Stadium. It will be the first time the two teams have met on the gridiron since 1967. The two teams met for six straight years from 1962-1967 with Brainerd holding a 4-2 advantage in games won.

"They are very athletic, very big and strong," Ballard said, noting the film study the coaching staff has done on this week's opponent. "They are very hard to prepare for, because you really don't know what you're going to get. They are unpredictable as to what they are going to do."

What Brainerd did last week was just short of remarkable. Tied with host Claiborne 20-20 and with time running out, the Panthers completed a 36-yd. touchdown pass on the final play of the game, with the receiver falling into the end zone as the final seconds ticked off the clock. That gave Brainerd a 26-20 win and a berth into this week's second round game.

"I think it's important for us to get an early lead," Ballard said. "If we can get off to a good start, like we did last week, it will help us."

Brainerd Coach Marvin Jones has spent some time this week dissecting the Greene Devils, and in a telephone interview he said he was impressed with what he saw on the TV screen.

"The biggest thing is they seem to fly to the ball on defense," Coach Jones said. "That's something you want to coach your kids to do; sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. But Greeneville looks like they do all the time."

Jones admits his Panthers were very fortunate to come out a winner last week against Claiborne.

"When you get to this stage, it's often who wants it the most," he said.

Brainerd is 8-3 coming into the contest, just like the Greene Devils. The three losses were to district rivals East Ridge (12-7), Red Bank (42-8) and Tyner (21-7). Among the wins, in addition to the non-district game at Knoxville Austin-East, was an 18-6 victory over Chattanooga Central, a team the Devils disposed of last week in opening round play.

"The Chattanooga district is very tough," Jones said. "It's hard to get out of here into the playoffs. Our kids did a good job in making it this year."

The strength of the Panthers, Jones said, might be in their linebacking corps, held down by seniors Jermaine Williams, Brandon Moore and Jackie Reeves. Ballard agreed.

"In looking at them on the stuff we've got, their linebackers do look very talented," he noted.

The Brainerd coach also gave plaudits to his quarterback, senior Anthony Broome, who he described as "a playmaker." Tailback Darius Chalk is also impressive.

Greeneville comes into the game healthy, Ballard said, and added that lineman Terrell Rollins might be able to go this week after returning to practice.

The Devils are paced offensively by the passing of quarterback Wes Quarles and the running of backs B.J. Spradlin and Trey Anderson.

Tickets for the game are $8 and may be purchased early at the GHS main office during regular school hours today and Friday. All fans must have a ticket as no passes are accepted.