SUMRALL – Lawrence County isn’t new to 4A football, or this region for that matter, but it’s certainly new to Bobcats’ coach Shannon White. The Cougars used to be in Region 7, but when Sumrall moved up to 4A three years ago, that bumped them to Region 6.
The last time White played Lawrence County was before any of his players were born, too.
“I’m not familiar with them at all,” White said. “I do know they’ve had a great tradition there at Lawrence County. They’ve had some really good teams over the years. I think I played against them at Collins High in 1990. I have never run across them in any sport or any time.”
The Cougars (3-4, 0-1 in Region 7-4A), are coming off a 44-31 loss to Forrest County AHS while Sumrall (4-3, 0-1) was edged by Purvis 35-28. White said there wasn’t anything he could point to as to why Purvis was able to pull out the win, but rather his team needed to learn how to close out big games.
It’s not breaking any news to say the Sumrall football program has been in a rebuild over the course of the past couple seasons, and the next step is to win close ballgames.
“I think learning to win close games is important against a good team,” White said. “I think that’s our next step. At some point in time we have to do that.”
Lawrence County averages 181 rushing yards a game and it’s scored 12 rushing touchdowns on the ground behind 13 different players. The bulk of the carries go to sophomore Kylan Cooper, who has 62 rushing attempts, 316 yards and three touchdowns, but seven different players have at least 13 carries on the season.
It’s safe to say the Cougars want to run the ball, because they have only passed the ball 44 times this season – a 6.2-pass per game average.
“They give you a million formations and a million plays,” White said. “It’s kind of amazing that they can do all that they do. They have some good athletes. They lost the starting quarterback a few weeks ago, but the kid who’s filled in for him is quite an athlete. But, yeah, that’s kind of what we see, too. A lot of different guys touch the ball and it’s kind of amazing.”
Defensively, Lawrence County has given up a ton of points in some games, but it has also had good performances. Teams are averaging 30 points per game against the Cougars’ defense, which has included giving up 32 points to Collins and 44 to FCAHS the last two weeks.
Lawrence County does, however, have an advantage over Sumrall.
“They’re really big and probably the biggest team we’ve faced this year,” White said. “We’re big in spots, but it’s going to be really tough. We’re a little undersized in some spots and we just have to be able to overcome it some how. They have a good-looking bunch; they really do.”
An interesting note about this Lawrence County is it’s played two overtime games this season, and in back-to-back weeks, too. It beat Bay High 40-37 in overtime, then the next week took down Franklin County 19-16 in double overtime.
