Having already wrapped up a No. 2 seed in the postseason, Woodstock entered Friday's regular-season finale against East Paulding with little to gain.

You couldn't tell that from the Wolverines' play.

Woodstock pounded East Paulding, 34-13, to post its eighth consecutive win and finish the season with a 9-1 record, the best in school history.

The recipe remained the same - a grueling ground game and a punishing defense. The Wolverines, who finished with an 8-1 record in Region 5AAAAA play, ran for 324 yards and, after allowing an early score, the defense shut down the Raiders.

Woodstock will now prepare to host Region 8AAAAA No. 3 seed Dacula in next week's first-round playoff game.

"It's been a fun run this year," Wolverines coach Mike O'Brien said. "Coming off of last year's playoff run, (the players have) come back with the attitude that we can do it. They've played that way the whole year through. We're putting our kids in a position to win, and the kids have gone out there and done it."

Up, 14-7, at halftime, the Wolverines broke open the game with their explosive ground game. Carlos Davis and Kevin Bolak each scored on 21-yard runs, and Jonathan Weiner snuck in from the 1, and the score suddently was 34-7 late in the third quarter.

Taylor Skogen, whose 40-yard touchdown gave Woodstock a 7-0 lead, tallied 134 yards on just eight carries. The Wolverines had seven runs of over 20 yards.

"They were selling out defensively with blitzes, bringing everybody to certain areas," O'Brien said of East Paulding. When they guessed wrong, we gashed them pretty good on some big, long runs."

That was more than enough for Woodstock's stingy defense. Led by senior linebacker Corey Carmichael, the defense finished the season allowing fewer than 100 points.

"The key was stopping the run of defense," said Carmichael, who had a sack and a blocked punt Friday.

A four-year starter, Carmichael said this year's group of players is different from last year's squad, which surprised everybody, including themselves, by advancing to the third round of the state playoffs before losing to Camden County.

Still, many observers from across the state have overlooked Woodstock in '09, Carmichael said.

"We haven't gotten the respect yet," he said, "but we've got to earn it. We're starting to get a little bit of respect, but not enough."

Linebackers coach Davis Harvey said this year's team walked into camp believing that it could compete with anybody, and they've gone out and proven that.

"We went toe-to-toe with the best," Harvey said. "Coach O'Brien's plan is as good as anybody's, and we realize that, if we do what we're supposed to do, we're the only ones that can stop us."

East Paulding (5-5, 4-5) was led by Kamani Thomas, who had 126 yards rushing.