ENTERPRISE – So far, the switch for the Sumrall offense has worked out well. After the Week 1 loss to South Jones with the Wing-T offense, the Bobcats have won back-to-back games with junior Billy Garrity at quarterback with a more traditional style of offense.
With only two games under his belt, Garrity will only get better, too.
“It’s only going to come with time and practice,” Sumrall coach Shannon White said. “His footwork is the main thing. It’s just something we work on every day now. The number of steps, how he takes those steps, driving off his back leg and just the simple things you do as the quarterback. Footwork creates accuracy, so that’s it.”
Even though Sumrall (2-1) was in a run-heavy offense to start the season, it’s seeing more success in the run game. Against Wesson two weeks ago, the Bobcats rushed for 252 yards on 38 attempts. Against Sacred Heart, Sumrall tallied 256 yards on 42 carries.
The team has four players with at least 148 yards rushing so far this season, as junior Ty’rek Preston leads the way with 199 yards on 23 attempts, and sophomore Gabriel Cocroft is the second leading rusher with 164 yards with a touchdown. Garrity has added 167 yards and two scores, and senior Derrick Lemieux has a team-high 41 rushing attempts for 148 yards.
While Preston has the best yard-per-carry average, he’s tied with Cocroft with the fewest carries of the three backs. Subconsciously, White has a reason behind that.
“They’re all good runners, and I don’t think one is better than the other,” he said. “Ty’rek is the only one of the three who starts on defense, so maybe subconsciously I protect him a little bit. I’m sure that’s what it is. I’m really aware of him defensively and keeping him healthy and fresh. I think they’re all capable of having those 100-yard nights.”
This week’s opponent, Enterprise, has allowed 51 points per game to its opponents, Scott Central (57), Northeast Lauderdale (47) and Stringer (50). White said Enterprise’s defense is young, but his team is in on position to look at anybody’s record.
“If we go into this game thinking this team is 0-3, we can just show up again and get the same results (as last week),” White said. “We’re going to be sloppy and we’ll have a dogfight on our hands. We have to be mature. We have a veteran group, we have an older bunch of kids, but we have to learn to focus on Sumrall, and not the opponent.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bulldogs have thrown the ball just 13 times compared to 158 rushing attempts. White believes they throw the ball less than anybody in the state, and it’s an offense that’s been a part of that program for a long time.
Junior Zach Kyle leads the way with 343 yards and five touchdowns on 40 carries, and senior Kaleb Fisher is second on the team with 264 yards on 53 rushing attempts. As a team, Enterprise has totaled 837 yards and seven touchdowns on its 158 attempts – a 5.3-yard per carry average.
“That offense is heavy misdirection, and it’s hard to find the ball,” White said. “There are things they do that tell you where the ball is going, but if you’re not paying attention, you lose focus or if you have a second-teamer in there who didn’t get a lot of reps, then it creates a lot of problems.”
