photo by Hannah Reel

Natchez’s head coach Lance Reed talks to his players during a time out at the game against Jefferson County Friday night. Reed says the Bulldogs are not looking past Wilkinson County this Friday, despite the fact the Wildcats did not win a game last season.

Bulldogs not looking past Wilkinson County

Michael Kerekes

Published Wednesday, August 26, 2009

NATCHEZ — The Natchez High School football team went back to work in practice on Monday, preparing for its Friday night game against Wilkinson County High School.

Bulldogs head coach Lance Reed said he was pleased with the Monday workouts for the most part, but there are still some areas that he would like to see more effort put into.

“It was OK,” Reed said. “Monday’s are sometimes sluggish, but we hope to pick it up (for the rest of the week).”

Reed has stressed to his players the importance of improving each week, citing the competition in the Bulldogs’ Region 3-6A district as being a challenge every year.

“We’ve gone through a couple of years realizing that our district is tough,” Reed said. “Our players know we have to get better. Do they quite understand what it’s going to take to get better? That’s the big question. We’ll find out.”

Reed said consistency in the workload his staff puts on his players is important in order to avoid any letdowns the week following the Bulldogs’ opening-game win.

“We work just as hard or harder,” Reed said. “We do what we’ve been doing plus some.”

The Bulldogs’ game against Wilkinson County will be the Wildcats’ first game of the season. The Wildcats are coming off a year which they went 0-9 overall and 0-6 in their region.

Despite the Wildcats being winless a year ago, Reed said they are not a team to be taken lightly.

“They’re known for being very physical,” Reed said. “They’ll definitely be shooting to beat us. They’re a smaller school, and they will not be intimidated by the fact that we’re a larger school.”

The Wildcats took part in the Natchez High School Jamboree two weeks ago, where they fell to Trinity Episcopal 29-12 in their one-quarter exhibition match up against the Saints. Reed dismissed any notion that seeing Wilkinson County perform in the jamboree would somehow give them an advantage in terms of being able to scout the Wildcats.

“Everyone will see the teams they play, whether it’s on film or otherwise,” Reed said. “It’s just a matter of who shows up and is the best team on that particular night.”

Kickoff for the game between Natchez High School and Wilkinson County High School is at 7:30 p.m.