Nathan Jones is in the position he used to dream about.

When he was younger, Jones, North Hall’s quarterback, would watch and study the way former Trojans running back T.J. Pitts led the program into the playoffs in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, thinking he someday wanted to be in that position.

That day has probably come quicker than he could have ever imagined.

Now a senior, Jones is in the position of leader for the Trojans (8-2), who play host to Ringgold (8-2) in the opening round of the Class AAA state playoffs Friday at The Brickyard.

“Now that we’re in the playoffs, we want to keep playing as long as we can,” Jones said. “As a senior, there is no more next year as a high school football player.

“This is what we’ve trained for since we were in the Junior Trojans program.”

When Jones was still in middle school, the Trojans were just trying to find some traction as a football program. North Hall didn’t win its first playoff game until the 2004 season.

My how times have changed.

Despite the school’s less-than-stellar football history, the program has made dramatic strides under ninth-year coach Bob Christmas. In fact, if you were to say things were status quo with the football program these days, they’d probably take it as a complement.

For the fourth consecutive season, the Trojans are set to open the playoffs on their own field. This year, North Hall, the No. 2 seed from Region 7-AAA, sealed its fourth-consecutive undefeated record in the North subregion to secure home field for at least one playoff game.

“We feel like we’re a good, strong No. 2 seed from a good strong region,” Christmas said.

And North Hall certainly earned everything it got this season the hard way. The Trojans battled back from a 1-2 start with a seven-game winning streak to end the regular season.

North Hall clearly didn’t want to get too consumed with the early back-to-back loses to Class AA’s third-ranked Buford (9-1) and Class AAA’s No. 1-ranked Gainesville (10-0), since neither game would have an impact on winning their subregion title. That, and the fact, both loses came against programs that have a legitimate shot at winning their respective state titles.

“We knew that 1-2 start was just a bump in the road, and we wanted to get better from that,” Jones said. “And that’s exactly what we were able to do.”

“We knew that if we did what we needed to do, we’d be where we are now,” North Hall senior lineman Kyle Oliver said.

The biggest key to North Hall’s resurgence this season was its dominating performance in the subregion opener against Creekview in Canton, just one week after getting pounded by Gainesville. Little did anyone know at the time that game against the Grizzlies (9-1) would be the deciding factor in the subregion title, and sending a one-loss team on the road to open the playoffs.

Two weeks after Creekview, North Hall rallied with a fourth-quarter victory against No. 4 seed Flowery Branch (7-3). The Trojans needed two late fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull out the game against the Falcons. Some players feel that amounted to a defining moment in North Hall’s season.

“That last drive when we had to score a touchdown against Flowery Branch brought us together and gave us a lot of confidence,” Oliver added.

The prize for North Hall’s strong finish to the season is to play where it is most comfortable in the postseason. The Trojans are 8-2 in the postseason at home, including a 10-9 victory against Hart County last year in the opening round. Jones and Oliver both feel that the home crowd at The Brickyard is a boost to helping the team win.

And with the way the brackets are set, they also realize that it will likely be their final game in front of a friendly crowd.

“Playing at home is totally different for us,” Jones said. “Our crowd helps push us to victory.”