Tony Vance had on his dancing shoes Saturday night, doing a little jig on the midfield Tiger logo at D.I. Patrick Stadium.
And why not? His Hattiesburg Tigers not only completed an amazing midseason turnaround, but exorcised a bitter memory from last season in the process and regained possession of their most coveted trophy.
The Tigers dominated Laurel almost from start to finish 34-14 in the 101st Battle for the Little Brown Jug. Hattiesburg finished the regular season 7-4 overall, but most importantly 7-0 in Region 3-5A, after an 0-4 start to the season.
The Tigers will carry the region championship into the Class 5A playoffs next week, hosting Vancleave. Laurel (6-5, 4-3) finished fourth in the region and will play at Picayune next week.
“We’ve waited 365 days for this, for the opportunity to get the Jug back,” said Vance. “It means so much to our community, our school and the City of Hattiesburg.
“Our kids understand the importance of the Little Brown Jug, the history behind it, and they did what they had to do tonight. I’m awfully proud of them.”
If there was any question about Hattiesburg’s motivation with its playoff future already set, they were dispelled right from the start.
On the first play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff, the Tigers executed halfback pass from junior Tamoz Barnes to senior Malcolm Boykin, who broke a tackle and dashed untouched for a 74-yard scoring play.
“It wasn’t on film; in fact, we didn’t practice that play at all this week,” said Vance. “But I woke up this morning, and I told my son, ‘bring me the Ipad, I need to see something. I think I’ve got a touchdown on the first play.’
“We went over the locker room before the game, told them what we were going to do, and they executed it to perfection.”
The pass from Barnes was a little underthrown, but Boykin came back to the ball, spun out of a tackle attempt and had nothing but green turf in front of him, outrunning the pursuit to the end zone.
“It felt good,” said Boykin, who finished with three catches for 103 yards. “The play wasn’t even designed for me. I was just running and I saw the ball up in the air, so I ran to it, got it and took it to the crib.”
Sufficiently aroused, the Hattiesburg defense got a three-and-out, and the Tigers went right back to work on offense, this time on the ground.
Senior Dillon Brown had runs of 6, 8 and 7 yards, and senior LeBrandon Graham had a 9-yard carry and a 6-yard run for the touchdown to cap a nine-play, 61-yard drive. Both PAT’s failed, however, but the Tigers were off to a 12-0 start.
It was the beginning of a big night’s work for Brown, who led the Tigers with 146 yards on 27 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns.
“I like being the workhorse, but I also like getting my teammates involved,” said Brown. “The offensive line still remembered from last year, how they were blowing through the line. We worked hard just for this moment.”
Laurel picked itself up off the mat on the ensuing drive, marching 71 yards on 16 plays in a drive that ate up 6:01 off the clock, scoring on a 6-yard run by Caden Arrington.
“Great call on their part to open the game,” said Laurel coach Ryan Earnest. “Tony Vance is always going to have something that you’re not quite ready for. That’s what makes him such a good coach.
“Hat’s off to them. They outplayed us, they outcoached us and they were the better team tonight. That’s the way it is.”
The score seemed to energize the Tornadoes on defense, as they forced a three-and-out, then got two turnovers, an interception and a fumble. Hattiesburg overcame the pick, but not the fumble at the Tornado 48-yard-line.
On the first play after the turnover, junior quarterback Kobe Pierce found senior Quandarius Keyes open over the middle and dropped the pass right into his hands for a 52-yard scoring play. The PAT kick gave Laurel a 14-12 lead, and momentum seemed to be on their side.
But Hattiesburg responded on the next possession, driving 68 yards on 11 plays for the go-ahead touchdown.
Brown converted a third down near midfield with an 11-yard, then sophomore quarterback Deuce Vance hit Boykin for a 13-yard pickup to the Laurel 21.
Three pays only netted the Tigers 6 yards, but on fourth down, Vance rolled left and floated a high pass into the back left corner of the end zone that Boykin went and caught over two Laurel defenders.
Vance then put a back-shoulder throw to Graham for the two-point conversion, and Hattiesburg headed into the locker room with a 20-14 halftime lead.
“We’ve been practicing that play all week,” said Boykin. “I’ve been telling my teammates that every ball, I’m going up to get it. I’m not going to let it just come down.”
Pierce connected with junior Brayden Jordan for a 29-yard pass to get the Tornadoes into position for a 39-yard field-goal attempt on the final play of the half, butt he kick was wide left.
“We wanted to go into the half with the lead,” said Earnest. “But they went down and just made another play, and we never quite recovered. We just never could get any kind of continuity going on offense.”
The second half belonged to the Tigers, especially their defense. Hattiesburg played the field position game to perfection in the third quarter, keeping Laurel bottled up on its end.
“Defense has been doing good all season,” said Tiger senior Tabias Hinton. “Some games we’ve started out slow, and we’ve picked it up in the second half. Tonight, we started strong, and played that way most of the game.”
For the game, Hattiesburg held the Tornadoes to a net of just 64 yards rushing and 199 yards total, and after going 3 for 6 on third down in the first half, Laurel was just 2 of 7 in the second half.
Laurel’s defense hung in there, but finally cracked in the fourth quarter.
Boykin’s 28-yard punt return set the Tigers up at the Laurel 15 and Brown appeared to get into the end zone on a 13-yard burst up the middle, but the play was nullified due to a holding penalty.
Hattiesburg came up short on the drive, giving up the ball on downs at the Tornado 5, but on the next play, Pierce fumbled the snap in the end zone and was forced to fall on the ball for a safety.
“They’ve been sensational all year,” said Vance. “We’ve ridden their coattail throughout this winning streak. They’re the backbone of our team, and they will continue to be.
“We left a few plays on the field on offense, but I’m so proud of our defense. Those guys have gotten it one all year.”
This time, the Tigers took advantage of the mistake. Graham took the ensuing free kick 37 yards to the Laurel 33 and the Tigers needed just six plays to score, with Brown getting the touchdown on a 3-yard run on fourth down.
It was Brown who put the cherry on top for Hattiesburg after the Tigers sacked Pierce for a 9-yard loss on a desperation fourth-down play deep in Tornado territory. On the next play, Brown dashed untouched up middle for a 14-yard touchdown run.
“It felt great,” said Brown. “Last year, they beat us by 50, and they were laughing at us. So just to put it away like that felt awfully good.
The victory avenged the Tigers’ humiliating 50-0 loss to the Tornadoes in last season’s historic 100th Jug contest, and while Vance played down the revenge motive, his actions in the team’s postgame celebration suggested otherwise.
“It really wasn’t that much of a motivation,” said Vance. “I told our kids it wasn’t about revenge. Last year is last year. I said that score is going to be there on the Jug forever; nothing we can do about that. Let’s focus on this year, and making sure that never happens again.”
Now both teams will prepare for the postseason. Hattiesburg will host Vancleave in its first home playoff game in four years, while Laurel must tackle undefeated, top-ranked Picayune, the defending state champs in 5A, on the road in the opening round of the playoffs.
“It is what it is,” said Earnest. “It’s football. We were going to have to play someone next week, it might as well be Picayune.”
Not many people gave Hattiesburg much of a chance after losing all four non-region games to open the season, but the Tigers believed in themselves and now they are undisputed region champions.
“We just believed in each other,” said Boykin. “We started getting on each other at practice, doing extra work after practice. We’re just going to keep giving it our all every week.
