As his players kneeled down on the field, Swainsboro coach Scott Roberts shouted out the most important words of the evening.

"Welcome to the dance," he said as the Tigers cheered on.

Quarterback Malcolm Eady scored three touchdowns, including one in the pivotal fourth quarter, to help Swainsboro clinch a postseason berth with a 34-7 win over Laney.

The Tigers finished Roberts' first season at 5-5 and failed to make the playoffs in 2008. Now, Swainsboro stands at 7-1 and second in Region 3-AA. With two more wins, the Tigers will play host to a first-round postseason opponent.

"We knew if we won tonight we'd get the chance to get into the playoffs and that's all we wanted," Roberts said. "We wanted to dance with everybody else and have our name in the hat."

"We had to come out and play to reach the playoffs," Eady said. "This year, we're a little more disciplined. We have more heart."

Swainsboro led 13-7 entering the fourth quarter but eventually wore down the Wildcat defense. Eady shook off two tacklers on a 23-yard run. He then broke another tackle on a 34-yard scamper. On the following play, Shaquille Cowart broke through the middle for an 11-yard touchdown run, the first of his two scores. The Tigers pushed their lead to 14.

Laney (3-5) got little going on offense after Leo Myers' 3-yard scoring run late in the first quarter.

The Wildcats had a chance to go ahead late in the first half. Jeremy Smith's interception return of an Eady pass went for 42 yards. On first down from the Swainsboro 41, Myers threw a long pass to Rod Hall, who stepped out at the 1.

With 36 seconds left before halftime, Myers tried to sneak in off right tackle but got stuffed at the line. The Wildcats already had exhausted all their timeouts. From the sidelines, Laney coach Lemuel Lackey yelled for Myers to spike the ball. But with 12 seconds left, Myers kept off left guard, ran into a wall and the clock expired.

"I thought everyone in the dadgum stadium heard me," Lackey said. "He'll learn from that situation. When you're an experienced quarterback and you've been there, you know what to do in those situations. But I thought he came back and played a good second half. You can't take anything away from the kid. That's one play that didn't decide the game."

Whether Laney scored then or not, it still would have had a tough time stopping the slippery Eady, who rushed 15 times for 171 yards.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Eady broke free for his third touchdown of the evening to push the lead to 28-7.

"He's the cog that makes us go," Roberts said. "We're not a one-man show, but he's definitely the one that makes us go."