PURVIS – Is this a rivalry? An easy answer is yes, but Sumrall hasn’t had much success over Purvis on the gridiron in the last decade.
Sumrall has beaten Purvis in football since Oct. 5, 2007.
“We like competing against Purvis in every sport we play,” Sumrall coach Shannon White said. “From show choir to drama club to football to baseball to basketball. We compete with Purvis, but we’ve not had much success obviously.”
Purvis coach Perry Wheat had the same thoughts, too.
“I think it is,” he said. “Just being close together and having played each other forever. It’s been a big rivalry game in baseball, as well, so I think it’s a big game for our kids. Now they’re in our region, so it’s an important game for our team.”
Entering Friday’s contest, Sumrall is in the same position as it was last year, finishing non-region play with a 4-2 record. Purvis, on the other hand, is 2-3 overall and recently snapped its two-game losing skid last week against Seminary.
The Tornadoes dropped back-to-back games to Columbia Academy and Mendenhall before getting the homecoming win last week.
“It’s always good to win,” Wheat said. “We want to play well, but just getting the win helps everybody.”
Tornadoes’ wide receiver C.J. Bolar didn’t play last week, but Wheat said he should be good to go against Sumrall. Battling an ankle injury, Bolar could have played last week, Wheat added, but with it being a non-region game, Purvis wanted to take precaution.
The offense struggled last week in Bolar’s absence, though. Purvis only had 52 passing yards while posting just 76 rushing yards. Wheat gave credit to Seminary’s defensive line, saying it had three defensive linemen who’s better than any team Purvis will face in the league week in and week out, but inconsistency was the main problem.
“We would maybe get 5 yards on first down, then have a play where we get behind the chains,” Wheat said. “We didn’t throw it much. C.J. didn’t play, so we lost one of our top receivers. We have other guys who are good receivers, but he’s been the go-to guy and fits in our offense.”
Despite the 2-3 record and the low production on offense last week, White sees a plethora of talent on that side of the ball for Purvis. White said Purvis always has a well coached quarterback, a hard-nose running back and talented receivers, so this is just a new version of the Tornadoes.
“What’s the iPhone numbers? This is Purvis.7 for me,” he said. “Actually, this is Purvis.10 because I played them three years at North Forrest. This is year 10 for me seeing the same stuff. There are some years they bring more to the table than others, but they always seem to be very similar to the year before, and that’s credit to their coaches and how they run their program.”
On the other side of the ball, Sumrall had its least productive offensive game since switching up the offense after the Week 1 loss to South Jones. After averaging nearly 250 yards per game on the ground, Pass High held the Bobcats to 122 yards and a 4.2-yard per run average.
White likes to use multiple running backs in a game, so when a player doesn’t reach 100 yards in a game it’s not surprising. However, of the four players who had a carry last week, no player had more than 40 yards.
Still though, Sumrall has proven it can move the ball effectively, and Wheat and his team recognize that.
“I think they’re similar to us with what they do offensively formation wise and where they have their skill players located,” Wheat said. “I think it’s going to come down to who can execute the best. I’m pretty impressed with them. They’ve looked pretty good in some of these games.”
