Addison’s Logan Wilkins (1) signifies a touchdown as teammate Zeb Maze crosses the goal line late in the fourth quarter of the No. 3 Bulldogs’ 42-26 victory over No. 6 Spring Garden on Friday.

ADDISON — The Addison Bulldogs are back in the Class 1A quarterfinals.

Iffy on defense before the break, Addison was clearly the better team after it, using one heck of a halftime adjustment to top Spring Garden 42-26 Friday night and reach the third round for the first time since 2010.

There, the No. 3 Dawgs (12-0) will face their second ranked foe in a row. They’ll travel next week to No. 10 Hubbertville, which squeaked by Hackleburg 27-22.

Despite Friday’s final score, getting by Spring Garden (10-2) was no easy feat. The sixth-ranked Panthers led 18-14 and held a glaring 212-125 advantage in total yards at halftime, forcing David Smothers and his Addison coaching staff to have a serious talk with his linebackers.

Serious, you say?

That’s not quite how Smothers remembers it.

“We told them in a very sweet, nice way that they weren’t fitting downhill, and they started fitting downhill,” he said. “Started wrapping up and tackling better. We didn’t shut them out the second half, but we made it a lot tougher.”

Zayne Guthrie set the tone for Addison’s furious finish with a 44-yard touchdown run down the right sideline only three snaps into the third quarter. Then, with Spring Garden facing fourth and a long 1 on its ensuing possession, the cousin connection of Caleb Crider and Gage Gilliland ensured the momentum stayed firmly in the Bulldogs’ favor.

Crider lodged the ball loose on a wraparound tackle, allowing Gilliland to get his gloves on it and scoot 30 yards for a scoop-and-score.

The tide-turning TD put Addison up 28-18, a deficit Spring Garden ultimately wasn’t able to overcome.

“I feel like we were prepared when we came out today,” Gilliland said. “We had a lot of heart. We came together as a team.”

The Panthers did pull to within 28-26 on a 11-yard touchdown throw from Ben Ivey to Hayden Short and Ivey’s 2-point toss to Dakota Lambert, but the Bulldogs wasted no time ballooning their cushion back out to two scores with a smooth 14-yard TD on read option by Noah Rice and successful extra-point kick by Zeb Maze.

Maze’s own 14-yard touchdown run — which saw the senior truck a defender and then easily mosey into the end zone — later in the fourth quarter sealed the postseason victory. Well, that and the picks from Guthrie and Ben Robinson it was sandwiched by.

“Those interceptions were awesome,” Smothers said. “We’ve got DBs that are so athletic. They just really don’t believe. They’re too passive, and they got better tonight, so I’m proud of them. I’m tickled to death with the win and we’re going to go celebrate.”

Addison was perfect on all five fourth-down attempts, including three in the opening half. Maze capitalized on the first, where he dragged six defenders downfield for a 12-yard gain, with a 5-yard touchdown run. Rice had a hand in the second and third, following the latter — a 13-yard throw to Gilliland — with a 10-yard strike to Logan Wilkins for six points.

Maze finished the evening with 101 rushing yards and the two TDs on 17 carries, as well as a couple 2-point runs and a pair of extra points. Rice rushed 14 times for 93 yards and split two touchdowns between the ground and air.

Guthrie and Chandler Cookenmaster combined for 88 yards.

The Dawgs limited Lambert to just 38 rushing yards in the second half after he’d entered the locker room with 153 and a long touchdown.

Ivey was 7-of-12 passing for 89 yards, two touchdowns and the two interceptions, and also scored once on the ground. Gaines Petty had Spring Garden’s other TD catch, a 12-yarder to give the Panthers an early 6-0 edge.

Collin Bentley and Guthrie were among Addison’s defenders with tackles for loss. In addition to his pick, Robinson contributed a whole heap of tackles. The last triggered an awful bout of cramps, which had the standout hobbling all the way back to the field house following the postgame celebration.

Not that Robinson minded. Helping keep the Bulldogs’ playoff run alive was well worth the pain.

“It’s one of the most important things in my life next to church,” he said. “Church and football.”