Like every other team in the PineBeltSPORTS coverage area, the Hattiesburg Tigers will play a familiar foe Friday night in the 5A Quarterfinals.
After an easy 50-0 win over South Jones last week, the Tigers will travel to the Stone Tomcats (8-3) this week. The teams are set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Al May Memorial Stadium on the campus of MGCCC in Perkinston.
Hattiesburg (12-0) dismantled Stone 62-27 when the two played in late September, but Tigers’ head coach said the game was closer than the score appeared.
“It was tight,” he said. “We had a couple of turnovers early, threw a pick-6, a ball fell out of our quarterback’s hand at the 5-yard line and they recovered at the 2, so it was really close the first two quarters. I think the third quarter we started to pull away.”
The loss to Hattiesburg was the first of back-to-back losses, with the second one from Picayune, but Stone has ripped off five straight wins since. The Tomcats have been impressive offensively and they’ve had good defensive ballgames, too.
Stone has averaged 38 points in the last five games while allowing opponents to score 16, which includes a shutout. Prior to the win streak, it was scoring 28 points per game and opponents were putting up 30.
“I think overall they’ve gotten better,” Vance said. “When you play a team five, six weeks ago, they’re going to improve and they have. They’re a much better football team now.”
Offensively, Stone still runs some of the same stuff, but it has added a wrinkle to that side of the ball. Vance said the Tomcats will get into a spread formation a few times during the game, which gives the Tigers’ defense something else to prepare and worry about.
Even though Vance said the Stone offense is more diverse now, the running game is Stone’s bread and butter.
“When the rubber meets the road, they’ll get back into what they’re comfortable with, but they will spread you out some,” Vance said.
Senior Kentrell McCray has rushed for 967 yards and nine touchdowns on 139 to lead the offense, and senior Enrique Whaley has added 760 yards and nine touchdowns on 98 carries. Both Senior Jakalyn Green and junior Trey Arrington have reached the 500-yard mark this season, too.
Unlike the first meeting, if Hattiesburg can get off to a fast start against the Tomcats, it’ll be hard for the run-first team to try and get back in the contest. Against South Jones Friday, Hattiesburg scored 21 points in the first quarter to quickly grab control, then a 22-point third quarter put the game out of reach.
Senior Jarod “Snoop” Conner took back the reins at quarterback, and he completed 6 of his 12 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 54 rushing yards and two scores on 13 carries. Vance said Conner didn’t skip a beat after not playing the quarterback position as much as he had the first nine games.
“He rode right along, and we knew he would,” Vance said.
Franklin added 109 rushing yards and a touchdown on six carries, too, while the team averaged 8.2 yards per rushing attempt.
Another note from Friday’s win was sophomore Kendyl Terrell caught a 2-point conversion pass in the third quarter. Vance joked that it was a well-designed play before commending Terrell and everybody on the field goal kicking team.
“We practice high snap and bad snaps, and she’s supposed to run to the left and get out of the way,” Vance said. “It was a bad snap and the holder had to go up and get, then he sprinted right because that was kind of the play, to sprint right and look for our up-back and tight end on the right, but they weren’t open. He improvised and threw it back to his left, and she was over there by herself.”
