Petal coach Marcus Boyles ended his postgame interview last Saturday night with an interesting quote, following his team’s 35-26 loss to Hattiesburg.
“I know I’m frustrated, but I know what these guys have in them, and I’m not going to be satisfied with what I saw tonight. If I’m satisfied, then they’re going to be satisfied,” he said Saturday.
He’s with these players in practice every day, and he sees the potential. What he saw on Saturday wasn’t what he sees in practices, though.
“I see us making plays in practice,” Boyles said Monday. “We don’t have those same mistakes in practice. I know what the kids have, so that’s why I think they can do it in games when the lights come on. I understand that some of them are young, inexperienced or both, but at the same time, you can’t use that as an excuse because you’ll be using that all season long.”
Petal had busted assignments on both sides of the ball, Boyles added, and didn’t run the right call multiple times on offense and defense. Dropped passes, fumbles and ill-timed penalties also plagued the Panthers, and Boyles calls all of those mistakes easily correctable.
A bright spot, however, was junior running back Micah McGowan. He rushed for 145 yards and a pair of scores on 28 carries, and he’s primed to become the team’s workhorse. McGowan had a big game against Hattiesburg last season, but he was lost in the shuffle when Nataurean Watts assumed starting running back duties in Week 2.
“I think he’s very comfortable, he’s a year older and he’s got a good bit of playing time last year, so I think he’s comfortable with what we’re doing offensively. That’s the biggest thing with him,” Boyles said.
Up next this week is Gulfport, a team Petal has played three straight seasons. The Admirals shutout George County 14-0 in the Port City Bowl at Harrison Central Friday night.
Senior quarterback T.Q. Newsome, who’s committed to play running back at Southern Miss, had 93 passing yards to 74 rushing yards, but his most impressive statistic was his 9-for-10 passing with two touchdowns and no turnovers.
The Panthers had to deal with Hattiesburg’s Jarod Conner, who’s every bit of 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds, and now they get a 6-foot-1, 205-pound quarterback who runs the ball just as well.
“Offensively, another athletic quarterback who has weapons around him,” Boyles said. “It’s just like Hattiesburg. He’s a quarterback who makes them go on offense, and you have to try to contain him and slow him down. It’s an opportunity for us to work on tackling a great athlete in the open field because that’s what fixing to happen.
“They don’t throw it a lot, but when they do, they’re very effective.”
Defensively, Gulfport already has a shutout under its belt this season. George County isn’t expected to have a top-notched offense this season, and it used a freshman quarterback last week. Also, Gulfport first-year coach John Archie told The Sun Herald after last week’s win that he has eight new starters on that side of the ball this season.
“When you cut on the film, even though it’s a new head coach, defensively they’re doing a lot of same stuff,” Boyles said. “They’re very sound on defense and they fit the run really well, and as good as anybody we’ll play. I’m just basing that on what I see on film and experience the last three years.”
Petal is set to travel to Gulfport for a 7 p.m. kick Friday. In the last three seasons, the Panthers are 2-1 against the Admirals.
