FAYETTE &045; The up-and-down season from a year ago could have been worse for Jefferson County.

It could have been all seniors.

The positive thing heading into this fall’s campaign is several key players are back on offense and the holes left by graduation seem to be aptly filled. The Tigers finished off spring practice Thursday with a 24-18 win over Port Gibson in the spring jamboree, leaving the basics down for the remainder of the summer until August.

Hit the weight room.

&uot;We’ve got a lot of work to do,&uot; Jefferson County head coach Jeffrey Harness said. &uot;We’ve got to get stronger and conditioned in the weight room. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. Most of the work is being conditioned, and we’ve got to fine-tune every aspect of our game. We’ve got a lot of things to correct.&uot;

The offensive unit rode the legs of returning tailback Ernest Havard, who topped the 100-yard mark on the ground against the Blue Waves. Havard also scored two touchdowns and two two-point conversions, while fullback Avery Hammett ran in the third score as both took the ball out of the I formation.

The two benefited from an offensive line that’s got several players back from last year.

&uot;The running game was solid,&uot; Harness said. &uot;Our offensive line played well. We’ve got two big guys at tackle. All of the linemen played as ninth- and 10th-graders last year and are coming back.&uot;

The biggest question on offense for the Tigers this spring was finding a new quarterback following the graduation of speedy and lanky Dewones Smith. Both Joshfer Nichols and eighth-grader Trevor Malone took snaps during Thursday’s scrimmage.

Nichols spent most of the spring at quarterback, while Malone completed two of three passes for 14 yards Thursday.

&uot;We wanted to play both of them in the spring game,&uot; Harness said. &uot;We mostly ran the ball and threw mostly on third down. The passes were there, but we missed a lot of them. But they’ll both be competing for the spot. We may end up playing both of them this fall, but right now I’m not name a starter.

Port Gibson, meanwhile, scored its three touchdowns thanks to long kickoff returns as well against a Tigers defensive unit that returns players up front but must fill holes at linebacker and in the secondary.

The Tigers used their eight-man front Thursday.

&uot;They did a good job on kickoff returns and special teams,&uot; Harness said. &uot;We’d drive it and score, and they’d get a good kickoff return. They’ve got good return men back there. We lost some key linebackers from last year. We’re without our two major backers from last year.&uot;