In the words of Tony Vance, Hattiesburg had a regretful as well as forgetful night after suffering a 37-7 loss to West Jones.
Piling on the regret is that the loss cost Hattiesburg the Region 3-6A title and a No. 1 seed for the Class 6A playoffs.
“I told them today that we are either going to wake up in the morning as district champs or we are going to wake up with a lot of regret,” Hattiesburg coach Tony Vance said. “It’s just that simple. We will wake up in the morning with regret, what could have been and what wasn’t. You either win at this time of the year or you learn. We have a lot to learn from a 37-7 whipping at home.”
The Mustangs ran freely in D.I. Patrick Stadium, with West Jones (10-0, 4-0) racking up just under 400 rushing yards and scoring on the first four possessions.
A 40-yard run by quarterback Kymaurion Lindsey set up a four-yard touchdown run by Rase Jones.
“I thought we missed a couple of tackles,” Vance said. “I’m not blaming the refs, but I’ll be honest we had a hold on our defensive end and block in the back on our corner right at the point of the attack. There’s not a lot you can do when that is not called. After that, we just couldn’t play well enough to win tonight. We didn’t coach well enough to win tonight. It is what it is.”
Regardless of the questionable missed call, the Tigers struggled in the first quarter as they surrendered a 58-yard touchdown run to Lindsey on the next drive. Hattiesburg (7-3, 3-1) then had its own punt blocked, setting up a 33-yard field goal for West Jones. Then, as time expired for the quarter, Caleb Holmes broke several tackles to score on a 50-yard run and give West Jones a 23-0 lead.
Hattiesburg’s only scoring drive came in the second quarter, which was a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Tavares Wade scoring on a 1-yard run. Wade accounted for 152 of Hattiesburg’s 184 yards in total offense.
The Tiger defense managed to keep West Jones off the board until midway in the fourth quarter, but penalties killed any momentum Hattiesburg managed to gain. In total, the Tigers were penalized nine times for 80 yards.
In the third quarter, the Mustangs missed a field goal due to a bad snap. Hattiesburg then drove to West Jones’ 35-yard line, but back-to-back flags killed the drive. West Jones running back Elijah Jones developed the hot hand, racking up 154 yards in the second half and scoring two touchdowns down the stretch to seal the Tigers’ fate.
“We have a good football team,” Vance said. “The score tonight is not indicative of who we are and our team. We will bounce back, and I fully expect to be ready to go next week.”
Hattiesburg will now be a No. 2 seed heading into the Class 6A playoffs and will host Pascagoula in the opening round.
“We are in the playoffs,” Vance said. “We are a No. 2 seed and play at home next week. That’s what we have to figure out, which is how to bounce back from tonight and be better next week as coaches and players.”
Follow @PineBeltSPORTS on Twitter and Facebook.
