One of the most anticipated weeks of the season is here, and it comes just two weeks into the regular season. The 97th edition of the Battle for the Little Brown Jug will be played at Hattiesburg’s D.I. Patrick Stadium at 7 p.m. Saturday.
It’s a big game for the coaches, players and community, and while it’s just another game of the regular season, Hattiesburg coach Tony Vance wants to make sure his players know the significance.
“We took time (Monday) to make them understand the history of it and importance of it,” Vance said. “How it started, why we play it and why it continues to be the longest continuous rivalry in the state. This is the 97th year, so we try to make sure they understand all of that.”
The Tigers are coming off a 35-26 win over Petal last week, while the Golden Tornadoes took down Callaway 55-13. Both teams looked impressive in their season openers, but Vance says there’s still plenty to work on with this team.
“I always tell my coaches and players, ‘It’s never as good as you think and it’s never as bad as you think,’ and I found it to be absolutely true watching film,” Vance said. “There were some things I thought we did well that wasn’t so good, and some things I thought we did bad but it was better than I thought.”
The Hattiesburg offense totaled 432 yards against the Panthers’ and Laurel put together 450 yards in Week 1. Senior quarterback Jarod “Snoop” Conner proved he hasn’t skipped a beat from 2017, and he led the team with 153 rushing yards with three scores and 158 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Senior running back Drexlan Allen and senior receiver Darius Ruffin had big games, too, but there are some issues the offense will have to sure up before Laurel comes down Interstate-59 Saturday. The Tigers had low snaps to Conner in their shotgun formations, and Conner fumbled a couple of times after receiving the bad snap. The weather was the primary cause of those mistakes, however.
“They’re very athletic, they run and fly around to the ball,” Vance said of Laurel’s defense. “They’re going to take some chances and use their athleticism.”
The Laurel rushing attack was stout last week, rushing for 327 yards and seven touchdowns between five ball carriers. Senior Zias Perryman only carried the ball three times but it was for 73 yards and two scores, and senior Michael Terrell led the offense with 125 rushing yards on 12 attempts with a touchdown.
Senior quarterback Sinclair Ulmer passed for 120 yards on 7-for-12 attempts, and senior Jontarius Henderson was Ulmer’s biggest target, catching four passes for 92 yards.
“They’re scary, they really are,” Vance said. “They play both quarterbacks a lot and they have two running backs who play a lot. They’re going to run the football but they can still throw it. You have to defend the whole field, but we’ll have to stop the run game to beat them.”
The Hattiesburg defense allowed Petal to gain 306 total yards, and most of Hattiesburg’s 10 penalties came from offside calls. The biggest question mark coming into the season was the linebacker position, and Vance was pleased with their play last week.
Seniors Ra’sheim Jordan and George Murry were second on the team with six tackles, and junior Anthony Bullock recovered a fumble and recorded four tackles.
“I thought they did some things well, I thought the effort was there, but it’s going to take some time to learn to trust your keys and trust your reads,” Vance said. “I think they’ll be fine. I saw a lot of good things like flying downhill, flying to football and taking on blockers.”
