With fireworks exploding in the background after a heated first-round playoff game, the North Hall Trojans gathered at the middle of The Brickyard to celebrate their first playoff win since 2009.

In what some thought would be a closer contest because of Woodward Academy’s potent offense, North Hall controlled every aspect of the game and came away with the 38-7 victory.

North Hall next plays host to Morgan County (9-2, 5-2 8-AAA), which defeated Gordon Central 24-21. The Bulldogs are 4-1 on the road this season, while the Trojans have a 5-1 mark at The Brickyard.

"Our kids were reeling off that loss to Buford last week," said North Hall coach Bob Christmas. "I could tell at practice on Monday and Tuesday that our kids weren’t over that loss yet, and it wasn’t until Wednesday that they really snapped out of it."

No hangover was evident from last week’s 45-16 loss to Buford, a game in which the Region 7-AAA champion Trojans had to move three offensive linemen to different positions and saw their seven-game win streak end.

"This is how we have responded all season after losses," said Kevin Christmas, the game’s leading rusher with 142 yards on 10 carries.

"After we were beat by Jefferson, we came back and executed the way we know how the next week. We saw where we made mistakes and we fixed them this week, too."

The Trojans (9-2, 6-1) compiled 388 yards of total offense against a Woodward team that had only given up more than 14 points in a game twice all season.

The War Eagles and Trojans did just as Kevin Christmas said and "responded" with plenty of competitive fervor, once even leading the officials to huddle with the North Hall offense and Woodward Academy defense to control the intensity.

"I told our players to come out and play with passion tonight, but we have to learn that when you make a big play to let it be known to our sideline and not the other side," Bob Christmas said.

The game’s opening scoring play was set up by a 60-yard run by Kevin Christmas, who ran the ball up the middle of the War Eagle defense before being caught at the 1-yard line. Bradley Brown finished off the drive with a quarterback sneak with 5:05 left in the first quarter.

The Trojans added another score early in the second quarter after Brown connected with Lee Shelton for a 56-yard touchdown pass.

On their next drive, the North Hall offense was stalled, but the North Hall punter got off a 54-yard kick and put the ball on Woodward Academy’s 3-yard line with a little more than four minutes to go in the first half.

Their poor field position proved to be too much and the game would head to halftime with the Trojans up 14.

Two scores in the third quarter, a pair of 1-yard runs by Andrew Smith and Brown put North Hall up by 28 points. Smith finished the game with 67 yards. He was also one of five Trojans to get at least eight carries.

Coming into the night, the Trojan defenders knew they had their hands full, facing Terry Googer’s athleticism at quarterback. But they responded by effectively shutting down the War Eagles’ offense, holding them to 261 total yards.

Woodward Academy gained only 46 yards on 24 carries. Time after time, the War Eagles tried to get Googer in space using the spread option and quarterback draws but to no avail.

"Now comes the time where we have to get better every single week," said Kevin Christmas. "With our offense, there is not much we can do to change it up, but I am sure we will throw in a few wrinkles. This offense is hard to stop when it is working.

Bob Christmas, who has employed a run-first attack for 12 years at North Hall, knows the triple option can be dangerous when teams only have one week to prepare.

"We just have to keep working at the little things," he said. "Like the timing. We can always work on our timing."

Brown, who finished with two touchdowns and 30 yards on nine carries, did not start in the second half and had his ankle taped. He did, however, return to the game at quarterback later in the second half.

In his absence, Smith threw a 14-yard pass to Taylor Ryder at the 1:38 mark in the fourth quarter.

"At this point in the season, we are trying to stay healthy. We will not be hitting too much this week because we can work on the little stuff like our timing and watch film," Bob Christmas said. "We can’t risk injuries."