CARRIERE – When asked, Hattiesburg coach Tony Vance didn’t know the last time the Tigers began a season 6-0, but that’s where he finds himself and his team entering the third week of region play.
Friday night starts a three-week stretch of road games for the Tigers, and it begins at winless Pearl River Central. Vance said playing on the road three straight games shouldn’t affect his team, because the Tigers make everything about themselves. Also, whether it’s in a game or practice, he reiterates how to handle sudden change.
“We talk so many times about change,” Vance said. “Whether it’s sudden change in a game, change of venues or if we’re practicing and the rain comes and we have to go inside or wait it out. We have to deal with sudden change. We constantly preach that team to that. The team that handles change or adversity is typically going to be mature teams and teams that can win whether it’s on the road or at home.”
While the latter two games of the three road games are against tougher teams, as PRC goes through a down year. Vance and his coaches are charged with the task of not allowing his players to be complacent, especially with a 0-6 team on the schedule this week.
The players are on social media and read everything written about them, Vance added.
“We have to get better Monday, so we have to point out mistakes from the previous week, things we have to work on, things we have to continue to do a better job of and go from there,” Vance said. “That’s one of the things we’ll try to continue to do. Obviously we’ll point out the good, too.”
Despite their record, Vance calls the Blue Devils a “gritty team.” However, they only average 82 yards through the air and 177 yards on the ground. Vance said what’s different about this PRC team compared to the past is it doesn’t have a speedy player who can break a 60-yard touchdown at any moment. The Blue Devils have capable running backs who can break tackles, though.
PRC lost to Long Beach 35-20 to start region play two weeks ago, then had a 28-14 defeat to Wayne County last week.
“They’re lost a couple of close games that they’ve been in,” Vance said. “Turnovers are hurting them, and other teams have been opportunistic and taking advantage of the opportunities (PRC) is giving them. I see a gritty and a good team that plays hard, and that worries me as a football coach when you see a team that plays hard regardless of the score. They’re going to play hard until the last horn sounds.”
Judging by PRC’s statistics, it made a quarterback change when region play starts, as freshman Cameron Brown has had most of the production under center. He saw action earlier in the season, but he had his best game last week by going 8-for-15 for 112 yards. He didn’t have a touchdown and he threw two interceptions.
“If he’s a freshman, he’s going to be a really good one by the time he’s a junior or even next year,” Vance said.
Defensively, Pearl River Central gives up 33 points per game, and the most an opponent has put up was 42 points from Poplarville Week 2.
