SUMRALL – Last week was a game to forget for the Sumrall Bobcats, and coach Shannon White thinks his team has done a good job of putting it behind them to prepare for their Week 2 opponent – Wesson.
“I thought (Monday) was pretty good,” White said. “To get beat like we got beat, it was disappointing. They’ve seemed to be looking forward to this week to try and improve, and hopefully play better.”
Wesson and Sumrall have had some battles the last couple of years, as the Cobras won two years ago at Sumrall, then the Bobcats returned the favor last season with a close win at Wesson. By all accounts, this year’s contest should be a good one, too.
However, the Bobcats’ offense is going to have to stop fumbling the ball if they want to see any success on offense. In the four quarters against South Jones, and the two quarters against George County in the jamboree, the offense has three points and seven fumbles.
“That’s just bad,” White said. “We’ve got to get the quarterback-center exchange down, and we’ll start there. We have to block better. That’s all it is. I think in all of my years in coaching I’ve ever had that problem. I’ve had some shotgun problems before, but I’ve never had the quarterback exchange problem when we’ve been under center. We’ll deal with it, and try to correct it.”
The Sumrall defense has impressed so far in six quarters. Although South Jones scored 36 points, not all of that was the Bobcats’ defense fault. Most of the players play both ways, and White believes his players are doing a good job of not taking the frustrations from the offensive side to the other side of the ball.
The Wesson offense was led by junior JaQuavion Harris’ 150 yards on eight rushing attempts and a score, with one of those attempts being for 96 yards. Senior quarterback Dell Thigpen got the most carries in the regular season opener, though, with 14 attempts for 69 yards and a touchdown.
“They have four or five guys who can really, really run,” White said. “They’re really explosive on offense, and they’re a lot different than South Jones. They’re not a team that’s just going to power you to death. They’ll use their speed and scheme, and they do a really good job with it. I just think they’re a lot better than they were last year.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Cobras recorded nine tackles for a loss, two fumble recoveries and a sack, holding Crystal Springs to 12 points. Sophomore Damien Smith forced both fumbles, recovery one, and he had six solo tackles.
“They play good defense, they have size up front and those two inside linebackers are good players,” White said. “They have a mixture of veterans and youth in the secondary. They have a couple of kids who play both ways and all of special teams, too. They’ve seem to be playing fast in the fourth quarter, so they’re in great shape and they really give a great effort, so I’ve been really impressed.”
Wesson at Sumrall will kickoff at 7 p.m. at Lions Field.
