HATTIESBURG – Coach Tony Vance will never complain about winning games, despite knowing there are some areas of his team he wants cleaned up.
While shooting itself in the foot throughout the first two games against Petal and Laurel, Hattiesburg has come away with two wins. Both games were on the road, too, and it’ll return to D.I. Patrick Stadium Friday night to host Moss Point.
“We’re winning, so that’s right,” Vance said. “We’re overcoming a lot of adversity, and some of it’s self-imposed, so we’re finding a way to win close games. That’s always a positive, and we’re not going to complain about winning.”
The penalties are a major concerned, and it almost cost the Tigers against Laurel. On fourth down late in the fourth quarter, a Hattiesburg defensive back was called for pass interference to keep Laurel’s hopes alive. In total, Hattiesburg had 11 flags thrown on it for 92 yards.
The run game has been led by junior quarterback Jarod “Snoop” Conner, while senior Mississippi State commit Fabian Franklin is averaging 39 yards a game and junior Drexlan Allen has only gained 37 yards per game. Vance isn’t too concerned with the numbers this early in the season, but he does recognize they need to get those players going in the right direction soon.
“I haven’t really looked at their production,” Vance said. “To be honest, a lot of that is teams knowing who those two guys are. The other part is, as a staff, we have to figure out how to get those two guys going, because they’re too big a part of what we do offensively, and they have to do a better job of getting going. I think it’s one of those things where we have to figure out and figure it out quick.”
Moss Point’s defense could have a difficult time stopping the Tigers’ offense, though. It allowed 26 points to Pascagoula in a Week 1 loss, and Gautier scored 27 points in a double-overtime win for Moss Point (1-1).
That doesn’t stop Vance from giving them high praise.
“It’s another team that’s big up front, physical, can run and probably one of the best defenses we’ll play as far as talent wise,” Vance said.
The Moss Point offense is different than how it has been in the past, according to Vance. He says this year’s Moss Point reminds him of a typical Laurel team.
“They’re spread this year, and any time a team can spread you out, when they have athletes like Moss Point’s has at quarterback, running back and receiver, it doesn’t take much of a hole for those guys to put the ball in the end zone,” Vance said. “They’re huge up front, and it reminds me of a Laurel team, but probably a little bit bigger than Laurel. It’s another tough task for us, no doubt. We have to play better than we did last week.”
The Hattiesburg defense got a boost two weeks ago when senior Dexter Jordan rejoined the team after not playing his junior season. Vance said Jordan approached him in the spring about playing football again, but a lot of thought had to go into it because of Jordan’s future in baseball.
The Louisiana-Lafayette baseball commit made the final decision the week of the first game of the season. After sitting out the first game because he didn’t have a lot of practice time, he made the game-sealing interception against Laurel.
“He know what type of player Dexter Jordan was when he was a sophomore, and the type of energy he brought to this team,” Vance said. “When he expressed interest back in the spring about coming back to football, there was some conversations then about it and if it was the right thing for him to do considering his baseball career. After putting some thought into it, he’s back out for football.”
