Natchez hopes to continue winning ways

Published 12:00 am Monday, October 2, 2006

FAYETTE &8212; Tonight&8217;s match-up between Jefferson County and Natchez should provide plenty of fireworks.

Both teams have plenty of offensive firepower and have put up points in bunches outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 118-34.

&8220;They have some skill guys that are as good as anybody&8217;s,&8221; Natchez (2-0) coach Lance Reed said. &8220;They&8217;re a very physical team that plays hard.&8221;

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Reed said that big plays and the physical play on defense are his biggest fear coming into tonight&8217;s game.

&8220;That&8217;s always a reason for concern,&8221; Reed said. &8220;Anytime you have a team that can run and plays with the speed they do, that presents a tough match-up.&8221;

Jefferson County (0-1) has a number of players with big play ability. Quarterback Percy Turner has run for two touchdowns and set up most of the Tiger&8217;s scores this season both running and throwing the football.

Wide receiver Joseph Kemp has been on the receiving end of most of Turner&8217;s passes, and, at 6-foot-4-inches tall, presents a match-up problem for almost any defensive back.

Kemp is reportedly on the wish lists of several colleges, as he is being recruited by seven different schools within the Southeastern Conference.

Big plays should be the story of the night as both teams can be expected to score several touchdowns.

Reed said he expects that Jefferson County will employ a number of blitzes, which should open opportunities in the passing game.

&8220;They run multiple sets and do a lot of different things,&8221; Reed said. &8220;Defensively they bring a lot of pressure and are going to lock up on our receivers and challenge us. Hopefully, we&8217;re up to that challenge, and will be able to throw the ball a little.&8221;

Kickoff is at 7:00 at Jefferson County High School.

Cathedral at Dexter

In Cathedral&8217;s season opening 12-7 loss against St. Aloysius, the Green Wave&8217;s biggest problem was not making the tackle when their defenders got to the ball carrier.

This week as Cathedral (0-1) travels to play Dexter (0-2), the Green Wave hope it does not suffer a repeat of the week one breakdowns on defense.

&8220;This a pretty good ball club. They&8217;re awful fast and have several kids that weigh 250 (pounds) or better,&8221; Cathedral coach Ken Beesley said. &8220;The one thing we can not afford is to not make the tackles like we did against St. Al.&8221;

Luckily for Beesley and staff the team had a break in their schedule with last week off. With the added week of practice to prepare for their next game the team focused on the finer points of tackling.

&8220;Normally I don&8217;t like to do as much hitting in practice as we did last week, because of the injury factor,&8221; Beesley said. &8220;But with as poorly as we tackled in our first game, we had no choice but to work on that.&8221;

Last week Dexter lost on the road 35-8 against Pine. In their first game Dexter lost 23-14 to Marion.

The Bulldogs run a basic Wing-T formation on offense, anchored by leading rusher Mario Miller and fullback Byron Cotton, who is listed as weighing 225 pounds. On defense Dexter employs multiple formations with a 5-3 or 3-5 scheme being the primary sets.

Last year Cathedral lost 21-6 at home against the Bulldogs, due to a pair of big plays.

&8220;They&8217;re big and fast,&8221; Beesley said. &8220;If we can keep them from making the big play like they did last year, I like our chances.&8221;

Franklin County at Prentiss

With two big wins under the belt, the Franklin County Bulldogs are feeling pretty good about themselves heading into the third week of the season.

Things get a bit tougher as Franklin (2-0) makes the long trek to Prentiss to take on another set of Bulldogs.

Prentiss stands at 0-2 on the season so far, having lost to Bassfield and Yazoo City on the road in the first two games of the season.

Wilkinson County at Jackson (La.)

The Wilkinson County Wildcats (0-2) will try to finally get on a winning track Friday night as they hop over the state line to face Jackson High.

Jackson (0-0-1) played Amite County to a 0-0 tie last week.