Friday’s win over Lawrence County was the type of offensive output Purvis coach Perry Wheat has been wanting to see for all season. The Tornadoes racked 455 total yards of offense, which was led by a ground attack that had 353 yards.
“It all starts up front, and we were able to block them pretty good,” Wheat said. “Also, we got some big plays through the passing game, and that added up pretty quickly. I think C.J. had three touchdown receptions, and they gave us a couple of turnovers, which was good and got his good field position.
“Everything kind of fell into place, but the main thing was I was pleased with their efforts. I thought we played hard and that’s what we have to do.”
Senior quarterback Ty Howell completed 6-of-12 passes for 102 yards with a couple of scores, but he did most of his damage on the ground with 125 rushing yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. Senior running back John Bolton added 113 yards – his sixth 100-yard performance – and a touchdown on 21 rushing attempts, too.
Bolton now has 958 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on 142 carries with two games left in the regular season.
“He’s had a good year, and we expected that from John,” Wheat said. “I think he can still be better with finishing his runs and stuff, but he works hard and has played pretty well.”
With some momentum, the Tornadoes (4-4, 3-1 in Region 7-4A) are not matched up with a Poplarville (8-0, 4-0) defense that has pitched two straight shutouts against Sumrall and Forrest County AHS. Those were the second and third shutouts of the season for the Hornets’ defense, and they’ve held three other teams to less than 15 points.
The most a team has scored on them was Greene County’s 36 points, and Picayune scored 24 in the second opener. Poplarville also has 36 tackles for a loss, 10 sacks, seven interceptions and seven fumble recoveries so far this season.
Poplarville doesn’t do anything special on defense either, according to Wheat.
“They’re going to pressure you and they’re going to play a 5-2, man-to-man (defense),” he said. “It’s just man-on-man type of stuff, and you have to beat them. You can’t really trick them, or that type of stuff, you just have actually to block them. Nobody, I guess, has been able to do that really well, so we just have to get in there and get after it to make it happen.”
Poplarville gets its most publicity on offense, though, and rightfully so. A combination of 13 different players have combined for 2,409 rushing yards and 38 touchdowns on 361 carries, as it averages 426 yards per game. Senior Austin Bolton, who has 1,540 yards and 20 touchdowns on 122 attempts, leads the group, and two other backs have at least 484 yards. Roosevelt Raine has added 756 yards and six scores and Tyson Holston has 484 yards with four touchdowns.
Wheat said his defense will have to be smart and read their keys because of Poplarville the misdirection offense. Some area coaches have said this Poplarville team is better than last years, which advanced to the 4A State Championship but lost to Lafayette, but Wheat wants
“We’ll know when we get through (with the game),” Wheat said on if this season’s Poplarville is better than last year. “Obviously with what they’ve done this year, being undefeated, probably averaging at least 50 points a game and haven’t given up very many points, they look really good. We’ll have to play our best, but that’s why you play it. We have to be ready and get after it.”
