It’s a pretty simple formula for the Petal Panthers, and really any football team. If they have a good week of practice, chances are they’ll play well in the game.
There’s a direct correlation between that and wins for Petal. The Panthers have been struggling with keeping the offense on the field this season, but last week they sustained drives throughout the night. Although, turnovers and field goals were usually the result of those long drives, which cost the Panthers the game.
“We had a really good week in practice and I think it always carries over to how well you play Friday night,” Petal coach Marcus Boyles said. “It’s how you prepare during the week, and I thought we had a great week of preparation against Oak Grove. The kids really locked in and focused. I thought we came out and played a lot better than how we played the previous couple of games.”
In the end, Boyles gave credit to Oak Grove for making the stops defensively, but he was overall pleased with how his team moved the ball in the loss to the Warriors.
This week, Petal is going to need another good showing offensively, because the Brandon Bulldogs (6-1, 2-0 in Region 3-6A) have proven they can put points on the scoreboard. Only two teams have held the Bulldogs to 14 or fewer points, and both those teams, Clinton and Madison Central, are in the Associated Press Top 10 in the state. Brandon beat Madison Central 14-7 in the season-opener, then suffered its only loss two weeks later against Clinton.
Since the loss, Brandon has scored at least 34 points in the last four games, defeating Tupelo, Northwest Rankin, Terry and George County.
Junior quarterback Will Rogers has 1,385 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions on 63 percent passing, senior Dallas Smith has 838 rushing yards and eight touchdowns and senior Jonathan Mingo leads the team with 667 receiving yards and five scores.
“The quarterback is a very smart kid and gets the ball to those playmakers and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Boyles said. “You’re not going to show him something that he hasn’t seen before. There’s no need to disguise stuff because he knows what you’re doing.”
Mingo, an Ole Miss commit, presents a ton of issues for the undersized Petal defense.
“He’s a big kid,” Boyles said. “You know our corners, we’re not the biggest out there and that’s a challenge every week for us. We know that and our kids understand that. We just have to compete and that’s the thing with a kid who’s a lot taller than us. We just have to get ready to play.”
Defensively, the Bulldogs have allowed just six points per game during their four-game winning streak. South Panola scored the most against Brandon, in a 42-21 win for the Bulldogs earlier this season.
“They bring a lot of pressure and they do a good job disguising it,” Boyles said. “They get your snap count and do a good job of timing up the blitzes and hitting the run. They’re not extremely big on defense, but they do a good job of fitting their gaps and being where they’re supposed to be.”
