ST. PAULS — With St. Pauls in its first football state championship in school history, coach Mike Setzer wants to make sure his team enjoys the experience.

But the objective of winning the title will require the Bulldogs’ best execution, so the team is also making sure it stays focused on the task at hand.

“Enjoying the moment, that’s the most important thing for us right now,” Setzer said. “Staying in the moment, staying focused. I think it’s going to come down to preparation, so we’ve talked about going ahead and addressing the big elephant in the room — we are going to play in the state championship, but we want to continue to prepare just like we have every week. We have a short week, but so does Salisbury, so we have to be cognizant of the things we need to get done before Thursday.”

The Bulldogs face Salisbury in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 2AA State Championship Game on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. Advance tickets are available at nchsaa.org; tickets will not be sold at the gate.

Salisbury (8-2) reached the state final with a 24-21 win over North Davidson in the West Regional final, avenging a regular-season loss to the Black Knights; the Hornets’ other loss during the season came to Oak Grove, who had lost to North Davidson in the previous round. The Hornets won 52-12 at Maiden in the first round and 10-7 at Burns in the second round.

The Hornets, coached by Zachary Cook, run a shotgun offense similar to that of the Bulldogs, led by dual-threat senior quarterback Vance Honeycutt (623 passing yards, six touchdowns; 673 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns).

“You’ve got a great athlete at quarterback; he’s a Carolina commit to play baseball,” Setzer said. “He’s a guy that really seems to be a field general; he does a good job of commanding the offense and seems to not make miscellaneous plays. He looks like he’s bought in, and he can hurt you with his arms and his legs.”

Marcus Cook (19 receptions, 279 yards, three touchdowns) is Honeycutt’s biggest passing target.

While the Bulldogs (8-0) boast sophomore running back KeMarion Baldwin (1,323 rushing yards, 15 touchdowns), the Hornets have their own dominant sophomore back in JyMikaah Wells (1,156 rushing yards, 13 touchdowns).

With the run games led by Baldwin and Wells so prominent for both teams, Setzer expects a physical contest.

“What we’ve done has gotten us to the state game, and both teams have been able to impose their will on people, so I think it’s going to be a game of execution, and a physical game,” Setzer said. “We are prepared for it to be a tight, physical game.”

The Hornets defense has allowed 9.6 points per game this season, led by the linebacking corps of Jaden Gaither (103 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss), Amare Johnson (84 tackles) and Georgia commit Jalon Walker (39 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss).

“I’ve lost sleep because of their defense — and their offense,” Setzer said. “They’ve got guys that are willing to be role players on their defense. You look at a defense like that, they’ve all bought in. I definitely think this is the best defense we’ve seen so far. They run and fly to the football; they’re big, they’re agile, they’re fast, and they’re very well coached up. But I also think that we’re the best defense they’ve seen, so it should make for a very good game.”

The biggest play in the Bulldogs’ regional final win came not on offense or defense, but special teams, with a Will Ford blocked punt recovered and returned by Erick Washington for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. With that in mind, Setzer said special teams could play a role in deciding Thursday’s outcome as well.

“I’ve been really pleased this year how our offense and defense and special teams have shown up together, and that’s something we’re going to continue to push for,” Setzer said. “We are very much aware that that’s the reason why we’ve had so much success this year; I’ve felt like in years past, one side of the ball has had to play harder than the other side of the ball, but I’ve been really pleased about how the kids have bought in to all facets of the game. Thursday we’re going to have special teams make big plays for us, as well as defense or offense.”

While the game comes with more hype and higher stakes than any other game the Bulldogs have played this season — or, for that matter, in their history — Setzer said the outcome will be dependent on the Bulldogs playing just the way they have all season.

“We’re planning to win,” Setzer said. “We’re going against a great opponent. But we win (Thursday) night if we’re able to do the things we like to do. If we can continue to remain calm and not get outside our wheelhouse, then we win (Thursday) night.”