There was much excitement for Hattiesburg as the Tigers began to embark on the 2022 season.
The season before, Hattiesburg returned numerous playmakers from a team plagued by injuries, which included losing both quarterbacks, but overcame an 0-4 start and nearly won its region and reached the playoffs. With so much talent back, it seemed Hattiesburg was primed for a big year. But history repeated itself, and the Tigers again lost both quarterbacks in the season’s first game, leading to another ugly start.
Despite dealing with another 0-4 start, this time Hattiesburg coach Tony Vance worked his magic touch, guided the Tigers to an undefeated mark in region play and returned to the playoffs, earning him the honor of being the 2022 Pine Belt Sports Coach of the Year.
“That’s exactly what went through my head,” said Vance on losing both quarterbacks again. “Like, wow, here we go again. Both quarterbacks were down in the first game of the season. I don’t know anybody that has a third-string quarterback in high school or a fourth-string ready to go."
Vance laughingly admits that he would have added some gray hair to his head if he wasn’t bald.
“It was familiar territory. Unfortunately, we’ve been there before," Vance said. "We kept telling our guys, our coaching staff, and anybody that would listen that we would be okay once we got a quarterback back. It allowed us to play some other guys and see what they could do. We didn’t lose hope.”
Ironically, Hattiesburg lost both quarterbacks in the same order as last season. In the opening game against Petal, Deuce Vance, Tony Vance’s son, went down with a mild AC sprain in his throwing shoulder. Tavares Wade, who ran for over 900 yards and scored 15 touchdowns, then experienced a Lisfranc injury, which was essentially a season-ending broken foot.
“We had so many things with both of those guys that we were planning to do in the backfield,” Vance said. “We had made plans for Deuce with him spending some time at receiver. We had a lot of different plans that we had to change because of the injury. That’s just part of it, but there’s always that what-if factor.”
The Tigers played only 6A teams in their non-region schedule and had losses to Ocean Springs, Oak Grove, and Meridian, as well as Petal. Yet by the time region play began against Natchez, Deuce returned, and at the same time, Hattiesburg found other playmakers for its offense.
“(Deuce) deserves a lot of credit for the turnaround,” Vance said. “He’s a big difference for us on offense, and it’s not because he’s putting up great numbers. It’s because we can actually run our offense, and he can get people in the right place.”
With the return of Deuce, Hattiesburg’s elite defense went from having to play an average of 70 snaps per game to between 30 and 40. The Tigers went from allowing 32 points per game in that four-game stretch to holding teams to an average of nine points through all region play.
“The time of possession started to shift in our favor,” Vance said. “That was a big deal for our defensive guys down the stretch. We could sustain some drives, get some first downs, not turn the ball over and play some field positioning.
“We took it one game at a time and saw the team getting better each and every week. We saw the chemistry start to gel.”
At the same time, breakout seasons from running back Dillon Brown and Malcolm Boykin were also critical. Originally, Brown was set to split reps with Wade, but instead took the whole work lead and ran for nearly 1,400 yards and 18 touchdowns. Boykin, who had to take snaps at quarterback in the first four games, moved back to switching between running back, wide receiver, kickoff return and defense back. The senior racked up over 1,600 all-purpose yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
This culminated in Hattiesburg locking up the region title with one week left in the season and left the Tigers with one more thing to complete on the regular season list – defeat rival Laurel and win back the Little Brown Jug. The Tornados ruined Hattiesburg’s turnaround last year, as Wade sustained a broken wrist against Laurel and led to a 50-0 blowout loss. The Tigers returned the favor with a 34-14 victory at D.I. Patrick Stadium.
“That was a game we took very personally last year,” Vance said. “Our players took it personally, and our coaches took it personally. I think I’d be remised if I said our entire fan base didn’t take it personally. That was a game we felt like we had to come out and win.
“The style of which we won kind of says a lot about our guys. As a team, (Laurel) prides itself on being able to run the football on everyone, and we held them to 64 yards rushing that game. We were able to impose our will and run the ball for almost 300 yards.”
Although Hattiesburg fell short in the first round of the playoffs, Vance is confident in next season, especially since the offense returns eight starters.
“We’re excited about next year,” Vance said. “We are losing some key guys on defense. I lose about eight starters on defense and our entire secondary, but we have guys who have played on the defensive front that are coming back.
“We have guys that played a lot of reps last year, so we look for them to step up. We feel like we have a chance to be really good on offense. I think we have eight starters back on offense, including both quarterbacks. Next year, we want to ride our offense.
