CHULA — The GIAA’s state playoffs start Friday and for Tiftarea Academy, the brackets are all about rematches.

The Panthers, who rose to No. 2 in Class 3A with their region championship win over Valwood Nov. 1, will see No. 7 John Milledge Academy see Friday night.

Tiftarea won 46-21 over the Trojans in August. At that time, John Milledge fell to 1-2 for the season. They ended it 2-8 with the second win being in their final regular season game Oct. 25, 28-17 over Mount de Sales.

Head coach Erik Soliday recently noted that Tiftarea has played six of the other seven teams in the top eight. Should they win Friday, the Panthers would host either Valwood or Frederica Academy, both of whom were on the regular season slate.

Valwood slipped to No. 3 in the power rankings; Frederica is No. 6.

The other two first round matchups are Terrell Academy at Westfield and Lakeview Academy at Deerfield-Windsor. Westfield is No. 1.