Panthers’ head coach Steve Bynum knew if his team could just withstand its grueling early season schedule, it’d be well-suited to handle its district slate of games later in the season.

Quitman (5-6, 3-2) did just that and ended the regular season on a two-game win streak, defeating Mendenhall High School 28-22 last Friday. The No. 2-seeded Panthers will now draw upon that experience as they begin their quest for the 2016 MHSAA 4A crown tonight against Lawrence County High School.

“(The tough schedule) helped us finish strong with two back-to-back division wins and a very close game at Northeast Jones that could have very easily went either way,” Bynum explained. “But either way, we ended up finishing second, which we’re proud of. We draw a home ballgame in the first round.”

Lawrence County (4-7, 3-2) enters the postseason on the strength of its running game, which has produced 2,228 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns this year. The Cougars currently average 202.5 rushing yards per contest and 5.8 rushing yards per play. Dealing with the likes of West Lauderdale and East Central high schools during the regular season will prove advantageous for the Panthers’ defense, according to Bynum.

“Teams we’ve played that are really strong running the football, playing teams like that I think is really going to help us with the ground attack that Lawrence County is going to bring,” he said. “Lawrence County is a really good football team that played Stanislaus last year in the South State championship. They return their quarterback and tailback from that team, along with several other starters. They’re really strong defensively, and have held most of their opponents to around 14 points or so.”

Kickoff is 7 p.m. Friday at Quitman.