TIFTON — You know your football season is going well if you hear Christmas music during your practices, according to Irwin County’s head coach Buddy Nobles.

The Indians are one of those lucky teams able to sing “Jingle Bells” while they work. For the third straight year, they have hit the state semifinals. Irwin made it to the championship last year with a win over Commerce in Ocilla.

In a change from the norm,, though, Irwin will be on the road this week. Excepting last year’s state final, this is the first time they have had to play in the state playoffs away from home since the power ratings were introduced in 2012. Still, even this won’t completely be a road game.

Late this week, Irwin announced that the game was being moved from Twin City to Swainsboro. The team’s Facebook said that because of excessive rain, Rountree Field is unplayable. ECI’s football page had been further helping by posting parking and dining tips for Swainsboro.

While the Bulldogs are naturally more familiar with the field, Irwin has actually had a couple of encounters there themselves. As a Class AA team in the 1980s, they twice defeated Swainsboro on their own field in the region playoffs.

Irwin is technically more familiar with Swainsboro’s field than ECI’s. They did play there once, a state game in 1997.

Emanuel County Institute began playing football before Twin City had a name. The program started in 1920, when the cities were known as Graymont-Summit. Success came soon after. In their third season, they knocked off several small colleges. State championships were won in 2007 and 2012, the former providing the state’s all-classification player of the year and former Georgia running back Washaun Ealey.

This season, ECI is 11-1, with only a loss to Swainsboro on their resume.

“They’re good,” said Nobles. “That ain’t a joke. We have our work cut out for us.”

Rhett Gay leads the charge behind center. The quarterback has 1,562 passing yards, with 22 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. If those numbers are not flashy enough, Gay has completed 67 percent of his 148 tosses.

Leading rusher Ricky Lee was held to 28 yards by Mount Zion, but Bobby McNear stepped up in that contest with 107 on 7 touches and they still were able to finish with 345 yards on the ground.

“They’re big, big kids,” said Nobles, “kids that can run.” Lee has 1,467 yards, 28 touchdowns and a 9.8 yards per carry average. McNear has 576 and Jamoni Kelly has contributed 486.

Leading receivers are Dazhun Steele with 577 yards and David Durden at 339.

Besides their offensive prowess, the Indians also know their opponent is resilient.

Mount Zion had taken a late lead last Friday, giving the Bulldogs just 90 seconds to drive 64 yards. At 1.6 seconds, Gay found Willie Johnson in the endzone.

Irwin has stepped up big when needed, too.

Trion’s defense kept the Indians to a single touchdown and 175 yards in the quarterfinals, but found their own offense to be nonexistent. Irwin held them to 195 total yards and not only shut them out, but scored two defensive touchdowns on interceptions by Cartavion Benyard and William Lewis.

“Coach (Jodie) Knight and the defensive staff executed their game plan,” said Nobles. He also had praise for Trion’s head coach, Justin Brown, for what they were able to do to the Indian offense.

The lone offensive score belonged to Zach Tolar, who converted on a 4th down scramble. He then fired to Cully Jones for a 2-point conversion, negating a missed extra point opportunity earlier in the game. “He did a nice job,” he said.

D.J. Pollard, despite a rare scoreless night, still leads the team with 1,686 yards on the ground and has 104 tackles. He has also been named Region 2-A’s Player of the Year. Five more Indians were named to the first team: Jones, Jared Johns, Zyon Ross, Nathan Tucker and Tyler Soliday.

Irwin has not left Ocilla since October, but Nobles thinks the schedule has had its benefits. “The good thing about us traveling,” he said, “two of our four trips have been over two hours.”

They have won six straight games since a loss to Charlton County and have dropped only one other overall. That was to Fitzgerald, who will be in nearby Louisville for a Class AA semifinal.

If Irwin makes the championship game again, they will face one of two opponents out for revenge: Commerce, the school they defeated in the 2014 semifinals or Clinch County, whose last loss was to the Indians. The championship will be Dec. 11 at 1 p.m.