NATCHEZ — Natchez High School head football coach Steve Davis has not been pleased with the effort and energy his team has demonstrated in back-to-back losses to Ocean Springs High School and rival Jefferson County High School — both of those games at home, to boot.
Now the Natchez High Bulldogs will look to end that two-game losing skid when they hit travel to Hazlehurst to face off with the Hazlehurst High School Indians Friday at 7 p.m. This is also Natchez High’s final game before MHSAA Region 3-5A play begins next week.
The MHSAA Class 5A Bulldogs (3-2) lost to Class 3A Jefferson County 22-14 in the “Battle of Highway 61” game in which the Tigers also won the “Blue and Gold Bowl” trophy. Hazlehurst (2-2) won at Amite County High School 33-6 last Friday night. When these two teams squared off last year at Natchez High, the Bulldogs escaped with a 22-20 win over another Class 3A team in the Hazlehurst Indians.
Natchez High head coach Steve Davis said practice has been going good so far this week, but he knows the Bulldogs have to play much better than they did last week if they are to get back to their winning ways and play, as he put it, Natchez High football.
“Good film sessions. Good practice (Tuesday). We had more energy yesterday. We put Jefferson County behind us. Tough loss, but we didn’t come ready to play football on Friday. They did,” Davis said. “Major credit to (head) coach (Roderick) Holmes and his staff and players. They came in and they played a better football game than us. Again, some of the stuff I’ve been preaching all year, we reverted to being a team of the past and that but us in the butt Friday night.”
As for what specifically the Bulldogs are working on in practice this week to get ready for the Indians, Davis said, “No more mental errors. Red zone opportunities. We got in the red zone several times and we didn’t score. We left four touchdowns out on the field. Tackling. For Hazlehurst, they’re going to be the same type of team Jefferson County was. They’re tough and gritty. They’re going to play hard for 48 minutes. We’re going to have to play hard for 48 minutes.”
Which, just like last week, may be difficult for a Natchez High team that wants to play up-tempo on offense. Hazlehurst, on the other hand, likes to play ball-control offense despite using a kind of attack that, Davis said, is similar to what the Bulldogs run.
“Offensively, they’re going to try to control the football by running the ball. Their quarterback, he’s very shifty. He’s a guy that’s quick. All he needs is a crease and he can run it right by you. We’re going to have to contain him. They don’t throw the ball much. They run a spread offense, much like us. They’re in the shotgun formation. They us a hammer-back, 3-wide, 4-wide,” Davis said.
“Defensively, they’re very sound in their schemes. They don’t make many mistakes. They don’t’ give up very much,” Davis said. “We’re going to have to take what they give us. They’re a 3-4, cover-2 team. They actually play that very, very well.”
As for what the Bulldogs’ offense will do to attack what the Indians do defensively, Davis said, “We had to fix a lot that we did wrong Friday night. We have to run the ball well. We haven’t run the ball well since Week 2. We’re going to work on the run game this week.”
Davis said the entire team needs to step up for the Bulldogs to come out victorious on the road Friday night. Specifically, he said he would like to see more from Jakel Irving, Carl McDonald, Micah Moore, and Damarrcus Blanton.
“Being senior-heavy, it’s time for the seniors to lead and play like we know that they can,” Davis said.
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