Fuqua School’s varsity football team is preparing this week to play in the state championship game for the third time in the last five years under Head Coach Ben Manis.

“Hopefully we can come away with this one,” Manis said. “We’ve been so close so many times that sooner or later, we’ve got to hit one of these.”

The Falcons made it to the title game in 2013 and fell 19-13 in overtime to host Blessed Sacrament Huguenot (BSH) Catholic School. They also made it in 2014 when they lost 24-20 to the visiting Roanoke Catholic School Celtics.

The Celtics are making their fourth consecutive appearance in the state championship, having won it in 2014 and 2016.

The No. 2-seeded Falcons (7-2) will take on No. 1 Roanoke Catholic (10-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. on the Celtics’ home field in Vinyard Park, which is located in Vinton.

Preparation this week has been fairly straightforward for Fuqua.

“We’re not going to change anything offensively, and we’re really not going to change much defensively,” Manis said. “It’s just going to be a matter of execution. So, if the kids can just keep their heads straight and execute, I think we’ll be fine.”

However, there are factors he and the team have been accounting for this week to support the goal of good execution.

They have been acclimating themselves to the Celtics’ unique offense.

“They run the Delaware Wing-T — two wingbacks, a fullback, a tight end — very run-heavy, very option-heavy,” Manis said. “If I could compare it to anything in college, it’s a little bit like playing Georgia Tech. … You don’t see it like you used to, and they run it very well.”

To reach the title game, Roanoke Catholic dealt visiting No. 4 BSH Catholic a 61-6 defeat Nov. 10.

“They’re playing a game of inches, and they do OK blocking you, but they don’t have to do but so good because there’s so much deception in the backfield with their motions and their movements and all,” Manis said.

He noted it is important to be coming into the championship game healthy and added that the Celtics played a schedule that helped them do this.

In its 10 games played this year, Roanoke Catholic has averaged 43 points per game and won by an average of 34.5 points.

Fuqua has no major injuries at this point, but it has been missing some players this week because they have been sick with the flu.

“It’s just a couple, but it’s a couple key kids too,” Manis said.

Any losses in personnel are keenly felt by the Falcons.

“Most of our guys are playing both ways, and probably a solid third of their guys are only playing one way,” Manis said. “So, it is what it is.”

The Celtics’ closest game of the season came Oct. 6 when they narrowly won 14-7 at Fuqua.

“They out-executed us on two or three plays, and we missed a couple tackles, and their No. 30 takes it to the house,” Manis said. “I feel like if we can slow (No.) 57 down on defense — when they’re on defense, (No.) 57 their tackle — and we can stop (No.) 30 running the ball, everybody else is OK, but those two guys really stand out.”

No. 30 is running back  Mykah English, and No. 57 is junior defensive tackle James Carpenter.

The Falcons will also need to avoid letting senior fullback A.J. Bennett grind out first downs like he did Oct. 6. They must choose their battles well.

“You’ve got to give up something, and you can’t cover everything,” Manis said. “When you’re on defense, you can’t cover all the passes, you can’t cover all the runs. So, you’ve got to figure out what’s their best keys, the best way to kind of stifle them.”

He noted it is the same when the Falcons are on offense.

“We’re going to be looking for what they’re going to give away,” he said, while also forcing them to move their players around.

In practice, Fuqua has also been trying to mimic the expected conditions at Vinyard Park where the speakers are set up on the visitor’s side right behind the coaches’ box, making communication between coaches difficult.