Practicing football on Thanksgiving Day is a ritual that Coach Caine Ballard and his Greene Devils would like to make an annual event.

For the second straight season, Greeneville delayed the turkey and trimmings until later in the day as the Greene Devils went about the business of preparing for the TSSAA state playoffs to be played Friday at Burley Stadium.

The Greene Devils will take on Whites Creek of Nashville at 7 p.m. A Greeneville win would be one of historical proportions as the victor gets a berth in next Saturday's state championship game to be played at 4:30 p.m. at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville.

Greeneville has made it this far before. In fact they were here last season but Maryville messed up the festivities. But they've never been able to cross this barrier and move on to play for the gold trophy that's given to the state football champs.

"We'll try to add a few wrinkles, but at this stage there's not a lot you change," Coach Ballard said of this week's game. "You just do what you normally do. There's not a lot of secrets."

Ballard and his coaches have spent a good deal of time in the film room this week, just as they have the past three weeks when they were studying opponents from Chattanooga. Greeneville swept the three opponents from Chattanooga -- Central, Brainerd and Red Bank. He's not witnessed a thing on film that shows the Cobras from Nashville will be an easier foe.

"Sort of scary," he said of watching Whites Creek on film. "They can score from anywhere on the field at any time. They are very fast on defense, and their front three people are big, very big."

One tackle is 6-5 and 330. Another is 6-4 and 280. They anchor a 3-5 base defense for the Cobras.

"I guess the thing that concerns me most is the fact that last week was a very emotional win for us, beating the top-ranked team in the state and on the road," Ballard said. "But I feel our kids have responded in practice and are looking forward to the game."

The Cobras come in with a 9-4 record and was one of those teams that probably had to hold its breath about whether they were even going to make the new playoff system this year. They were a No. 7 seed in their quadrant, so all three of their games have been on the road.

Whites Creek's regular season schedule looked like "murderer's row," a slate that featured teams like Mt. Juliet, David Lipscomb, Nashville Goodpasture, Hillsboro and Christ Presbyterian Academy. The Cobras wound up losing to Mt. Juliet 15-12, Lipscomb 41-14, Pearl 20-0 and Maplewood 5-0 in the regular season.

But after a 6-4 regular season, they stormed into the playoffs, all road trips, and downed White House 42-6, Livingston Academy 32-10 and last week avenged an earlier season loss to regional rival Maplewood with a 12-3 victory.

"Obviously they've been very good on the road," Ballard said.

Whites Creek Coach Anthony Law told the Nashville Tennesseean this week that Greeneville also looks impressive on film.

"They're well-disciplined, they're in the right spot at the right time and they don't make many mistakes," he said. "I think we'll have the advantage in speed, but that's (the case) with just about anybody."

Running back Clifford Jetton leads the Cobras in rushing with 1225 yds. and six touchdowns. The senior has been the workhorse in the past two games, averaging over 180 yds. per game in those victories.

The Greene Devils must avoid turnovers, Ballard noted.

"We hadn't made a turnover in five games until last week at Red Bank," the coach noted. "But the speed of the defense forces turnovers, and I think that was a lot of it last week."

Despite the mistakes, the Devils knocked off Red Bank 14-13 when lineman Andy McNeese blocked an extra point kick late in the game.