North Florida Christian football is back in the state final four and the Eagles are on the doorstep of making the school's 12th state championship game.

The eight-time state title winners are heading down I-75 to Sarasota, facing fellow 1S power Cardinal Mooney (10-2) on Friday night in the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1S state semifinal. The Eagles are looking for the program's first state title since 2018, and are ready to compete.

"They're excited, this group has not won a state championship before," NFC head coach Brent Hill said. "We tell them all the time, if you want something you've never had before, you got to be willing to do something you've never done before. It takes more, and I can tell that energy has been there."

The Eagles come into the matchup on a three-game winning streak, beating Munroe twice and St. John Paul II 21-14 in the 1S Region 1 final. It wasn't the prettiest of games for NFC, but the determination to get the win is something Hill feels his players have had all season.

Going into the matchup with Cardinal Mooney, Hill said his team knows it will likely be considered the underdog, but his players aren't phased by it.

"The state probably feels like they're supposed to win," Hill said. "We kind of thrive on that, we like being the underdog. We just want to play and get out there and go compete. These kids have handled adversity, and they've handled everything that's been thrown at them. They're just ready to go compete."

The Cougars are coming in on a four-game winning streak, scoring 225 points in that time, including a 78-point display against SmartEN Sports Academy, and are one of the best offenses NFC will face this season.

Facing a high-powered offense is nothing new to NFC as the Eagles faced one of the state's most explosive offenses in Wakulla during the regular season, falling to the War Eagles 42-21 in a game Hill hoped would prep his team for playoff competition.

It has been a bit of a turbulent season for NFC, facing two weeks of referring issues, starting one game without an officials crew and having another game canceled due to Rocky Bayou Christian using officials not sanctioned by the FHSAA.

It also lost a trio of top contributors in Leon Washington, OJ Vaughn and Terry Arnold, who transferred and played for Wakulla, which is allowed under FHSAA law. Despite all of that, the Eagles are in the state final four for the first time since the state title-winning team of 2018.

Led by quarterback JP Pickles, who has thrown for 2606 yards and 26 touchdowns alongside 1183 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns, the Eagles have been a dynamic team that is hard to contain offensively. With a roster of 42 players, people like Pickels, Josh Schuchts, Major Hart II and more are stepping up and playing both sides of the football.

Hill feels his team has embraced the need to play both sides of the football all season.

"We feel like we've got our backs against the wall. So they can either give up or they can get fight through it," Hill said. "These guys have accepted that, they want to fight through it. We realize we're asking guys to do more than we ever have and so far they've answered that challenge really well."

NFC faces Cardinal Mooney on Friday, Dec. 1, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game can be watched on the NFHS network.

Liam Rooney covers preps sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: NFC football ready to compete, looking for first state title since 2018