MARIETTA — Trailing 35-21 at halftime in Friday’s state playoff game, Gainesville head coach Bruce Miller said he didn’t tell his players anything special.

The Red Elephants made the right adjustments on their own to overcome the deficit and defeat the Kell Longhorns 61-42 Friday night in Marietta.

Gainesville (9-3) will go on the road again next week to play Region 1-AAAAA No. 1 seed Harris County.

This marks the fourth time in six seasons the Red Elephants have made it to the quarterfinal round.

“What a complete second half; it was almost like a different team showed up the second half,” Miller said. “We got the momentum rolling and it was like you couldn’t get it back from us. I thought our defense did a great job of shutting them down and putting pressure on their quarterback.”

Gainesville outscored Kell (10-2) 40-7 in the second half. The comeback was capped off by back-to-back interceptions by the Red Elephants’ defense. Defensive back T.K. Mize returned the first one 50 yards for a touchdown. Fred Payne had the second interception and it set up a touchdown.

Senior defensive linemen Damian Grayson recorded two sacks for the Red Elephants’ defense, which also forced the Longhorns’ offense to three straight three-and-outs to start the third quarter. The momentum gave the Red Elephants’ manageable field position, and most of all, confidence.

The Red Elephants’ offense also took advantage of their opportunities. Behind junior quarterback Deshaun Watson, the offense didn’t turn the ball over to an opportunistic Longhorns’ defense.

Watson had one of his best games of the year, going 25-for-35 passing for 230 yards and three touchdowns. He also led the Red Elephants’ rushing attack, racking up a game-high 163 yards on 28 carries and five touchdowns.

“We knew it was going to be a battle; we knew Kell had great athletes,” Watson said.

Sophomore running back Michael Byrd rushed for 52 yards and caught three passes for 33 yards, including the 26-yard touchdown grab that started the Red Elephants’ explosive second-half comeback.

Sophomore wide receiver Rodney Lackey caught nine passes from Watson for 59 yards.

“Our kids fought their tails off the whole game,” Kell head coach Derek Cook said. “Obviously (momentum) swung back-and-forth. (Gainesville) stormed back and scored 21 (points) of their own, then we swung back in our direction and tied it up again. They just made a few more (plays) than we did.”

Kell was led by junior quarterback Matthew McGuigan, who was 13-for-23 passing for 332 yards and six touchdowns.

Four of those touchdowns landed in the hands of senior wide receiver Brendan Langley. He finished the game with four catches for 164 yards.

Kell tight end Michael Valero caught two passes for 73 yards and one touchdown. Julian Burris, the receiver who caught Kell’s game-winning touchdown pass last week, finished the game with 47 yards and McGuigan’s other touchdown.

The Longhorns’ offense wasted little time in starting the part at the Stockyard. McGuigan found Langley for a 29-yard touchdown just over 90 seconds into the game.

After a three-and-out on their opening drive, the Red Elephants’ offense got it going. Watson found Tray Harrison for a 4-yard touchdown with 3:13 left in the opening quarter. They finished the quarter tied at 7-7.

However, the second quarter featured a lot of the offensive firepower. Watson started the scoring, scrambling in on a 7-yard run gave Gainesville its first lead.

The Longhorns answered when McGuigan found Langley for two more touchdowns on passes of 67 and 12 yards. Watson tied the game with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Hayman with 2:26 left in the second quarter.

The Longhorns’ offense finished the quarter on a 14-0 run when McGuigan found Valero for a 68-yard touchdown score, then Burris for 34 yards to end the half.

After Byrd caught the Red Elephants’ first touchdown of the second half, Watson ran in the next two scores for the offense, giving the Red Elephants’ the lead.

But then McGuigan found Langley for his sixth touchdown with 9:53 left in the game.

The Red Elephants finished the game on a 19-0 run, with Watson running for his fourth and fifth touchdowns. The other score was Mize’s interception return.

“Our kids did a great job of preparing. Our guys hung in there and fought, and practiced every day (going into the game) as hard as they could,” Miller said.