If you talked to Griffin High head coach Steve DeVoursney at any point in the last week you know he’s concerned about one thing when his team No. 4-state ranked hits the road tonight to take on Bradwell Institute: “It’s a long trip.”

The trip, which is more than three and a half hours by Map Quest standards, is Griffin’s first of the season.

The Bears (1-0) are coming off a 23-0 home win against Lithia Springs last week, while Bradwell (0-1) is coming off a 7-0 loss at Glynn Academy.

First-year Griffin High defensive coordinator Rusty Easom was pleased with his unit’s play in the victory. The Bears limited Lithia to 89 yards from scrimmage, including 51 passing and a mere 38 rushing.

“We had a pretty good game,” said Easom, who said he’d like to see his linebackers play to their potential this week, the line play more consistent and the secondary take advantage of the other’s teams mistakes more than they did a week ago. “We let two fumbles and two interceptions get away.”

First-year GHS offensive coordinator Bill Kelly would also like to see his unit improve in a few areas.

“I’d like to see us get more physical and more assignment sharp,” he said, noting ball security was also a concern last week as Griffin lost two of its five fumbles albeit on a night with a steady rain.

He expects GHS’s offense - which was hurt when fullback Alan Frazier went down with a broken ankle Wednesday - to face a 3-5-3 defense similar to what Newnan ran during a preseason scrimmage the Bears won 10-7.

Easom said Bradwell will run out of the Wing-T, preferring more of a jet-sweep package than the quick and buck-sweep style Griffin uses out of the same set.

Last year Griffin downed Bradwell 48-0. Bradwell has 17 starters back. Griffin has five.