NATCHEZ — For much of the season, Natchez High’s offense has been one-dimensional, relying on a passing game led by freshman quarterback Javon Washington.

But during the last two games, the Bulldogs have turned to their running game to take some of the pressure off Washington. And that change of pace in their offense has led to back-to-back victories to keep their chances of being one of the top four teams in Region 3-5A and a possible playoff hope alive.

Last Friday night at Jim Hill was a prime example. Washington threw the ball just five times and completed two of them for 36. But the Bulldogs, led by Willie Newman’s 220 yards, ran the ball for a total of 416 yards as they steamrolled past the Tigers 63-0.

“Willie Newman rushed for over (200) yards and Travis Woods ran for close to 100 yards,” Natchez High head coach Lance Reed said after the game. “I wasn’t as surprised as you would think. Earlier in the season we weren’t running the ball well. We’ve been seeing some improvement from our players and staff to improve in that area. We’ve gotten some consistency from the offensive line the last few weeks.”

But not only was the Bulldogs’ offense impressive, but so was their defense, which shut out an opponent for the first time this season.

“We didn’t tackle very well. That was one area I wasn’t pleased with,” Reed said. “But we executed well and that’s (shutout) something to be proud of.”

And they will look to continue that momentum when they host a Terry team that got pounded by Oak Grove last week.

“Terry was the 4A South State runner-up last year. They always field a quality team,” Reed said. “We look forward to another good game.”

The Cathedral Green Wave hung tough with the top-ranked and defending Class 1A state champion Puckett Wolves on the road for much of the first half last Friday night. But Puckett’s ground game, led by Bobby Williams and Matthew Willis, wore down their defense as the Wolves went on to defeat the Green Wave 49-13.

Cole Mann suffered a concussion in the second quarter on the play that turned the whole complexion of the game around – Willis’s 64-yard punt return for a touchdown that gave Puckett a 28-13 halftime lead.

Green Wave head coach Craig Beesley said he expects Mann to be able to play this Friday night when they visit Pisgah. Also, Jesse Morrison suffered a hand injury, but Beesley said he should be okay and ready to play Friday night.

As for the punt return, Beesley himself said that turned the momentum in Puckett’s favor.

“It broke out back right there,” Beesley said. “It was back and forth before that. If we could’ve gone into the locker room down 21-13, we would’ve felt a little better.”

The second half, more specifically the third quarter, was dominated by Puckett. Starting with Willis’s punt return, the Wolves scored 28 unanswered points to put the game away.

“They’re the defending state champions in 1A not only in football, but in track, too,” Beesley said. “They were able to shut us down offensively in the second half. Offensively, they just took it to us.”

Cathedral, now 2-6 overall and in Region 4-1A, will have its hands full with Pisgah tailback Donatello Luckett.

“He’s fast and strong. That’s the one thing we’ve been having trouble with, stopping the run,” Beesley said. “We have two games left (at Pisgah Friday night and a home game against West Lincoln on Nov. 9). We feel like we can have a chance to win these last two games if we play well.”

One team that is playing quite well this season is the Ferriday Trojans, ranked No. 10 in Class 2A. Led by quarterback Kendrick Harris, who accounted for five touchdowns, Ferriday rallied from an early 14-12 deficit to defeat the Class 4A Beau Chene Gators 40-28 to improve to 8-0 on the season.

“You can’t ask the kid to play any better than he did last night,” Ferriday head coach Freddie Harrison said. “As a coach, he’s like one of the coaches on the field. He gets the most out of the kids that are on the field. He leads them in the right direction. I call it driving a car. You can’t be in better hands.”

Harris threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another 75 yards and one touchdown. The Trojans rolled up an impressive 463 yards of total offense and did not turn the ball over once.

And even though Ferriday’s defense allowed 279 rushing yards and three touchdowns by Blake Davis, Harrison said he was not disappointed with the effort.

“Every now and then they’re (opposing offenses) going to make a big play,” Harrison said. “We’re going to miss some tackles every now and then. But the defense did what it had to do to win the game. But you have to give the other team some credit.”

The one thing Harrison wasn’t too pleased with was the kickoff unit giving up an 80-yard return by Beau Chene’s Scott Lagrange for a touchdown after Ferriday scored the game’s first touchdown just over two minutes in.

“We don’t overlook special teams. That’s something we take very seriously,” Harrison said. “The kids that go out there on special teams, they’re as important as those on offense and defense.”

And Ferriday can’t afford to have any special teams breakdowns when they travel for the first time in over a month when they take on the Farmerville Farmers in a key District 2-2A game for both teams.

“Big district game. We had a long home stint. They know what’s at stake,” Harrison said. “We have a long trip to Farmerville. They’re coming off a big win over Sterlington. They’re a well-coached ball club. They play a real tough non-district schedule. Their record doesn’t indicate what kind of team they have.”

Farmerville lost its first four games before winning its last four games, including a 14-13 win at home over Sterlington. With the other three teams in District 2-2A – Lake Providence, Jonesboro-Hodge and Sterlington already having two district losses, this game could very well determine the district championship.

The Franklin County Bulldogs retuned to their dominating form last Friday night with an impressive 42-8 win over the South Pike Eagles to improve to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in Region 7-3A. And with Amite County’s stunning 14-0 win over Tylertown, the Bulldogs are right back in the hunt for the region’s No. 1 seed.

“We just need to take it one game at a time,” Franklin County head coach Grady McCluskey said. “We’ve had enough things happen to us. It’s a little confidence boost. Just show up and play like we’re capable of playing. We don’t need to worry about what’s going on with anyone else. All of our goals are still attainable.

Junior quarterback Jamie Collins led the offense with 102 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 10 carries and Darnell Ford scored a couple of touchdowns in the second quarter that put the game away.

“We got our quarterback back healthy,” McCluskey said. “He broke a lot of tackles. “We worked on blocking Monday and Tuesday. Our running backs ran harder. We challenged everyone to play better. We blocked up front better. Jamie drug people up and down the field. They went into the game with a lot of size, but we knocked them off the ball.”

Defensive lineman Bo Tillman, a Clarion-Ledger Dandy Dozen selection, had his first big game in three weeks. In the first half alone, Tillman has seven tackles, two and a half for a loss, a forced fumble, a quarterback hurry that led to Alex Smith intercepting a pass, and a deflected punt. Franklin County’s defense was so dominating that South Pike didn’t score until the fourth quarter.

“We’ve been playing good on defense all year. We’ve only given up about 850 yards in eight games,” McCluskey said. “We’ve given up some points. They played exceptional (Friday) night. South Pike’s a running team and we’re pretty good against the run. Bo played like he’s capable of playing. He’s been playing hot and cold and (Friday) night he played hot.”

The Bulldogs travel to Woodville to take on the Wilkinson County Wildcats. Wilkinson County fell to 1-7 overall and 0-4 in region play with a 32-18 loss to North Pike. The Jaguars, meanwhile, will have the unenviable task of taking on a wounded Jefferson County team in the Tigers’ homecoming game Friday night.

Just one week after being ranked No. 2 in Class 3A in one statewide poll and in the Clarion-Ledger’s Class 3A poll for the first time in school history, Jefferson County could not stop Lawrence County’s running attack as the Class 4A Cougars used a 477-yard rushing effort to defeat the Tigers 66-26. The good news is it wasn’t a region game.

Percy Turner threw for 243 yards and three touchdowns and two interceptions. Jefferson County, now 6-2 overall, hurt itself with turnovers on its first two possessions.

The Tigers’ defense could not stop Lawrence County’s 1-2 punch of senior Isiah Ferdinand and Kendrick Hardy. Ferdinand had a career-high 175 yards and two touchdowns while Hardy, who went into the game with 1,302 yards, added another 107 yards to his total and he returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter.

Vidalia saw its slim playoff chances take a big hit as the Vikings lost at Buckeye 33-14 to fall to 3-5 overall and 0-3 in District 3-3A. Vidalia returns home Friday night to take on district opponent Avoyelles.

The Block Bears won their second game of the season Friday night as they stunned the Northwood-Lena Gators on the road 15-14. But it took a failed two-point conversion run by Northwood-Lena with 2:36 to go in the game for Block to secure the win.

Block, 2-6 overall and 2-1 in District 3-1A, turned in its best defensive performance of the season, holding the Gators to just 159 yards of total offense and forcing three turnovers. They will need that kind of performance when they host St. Mary’s of Natchitoches, La.

Curdarius Johnson had a big game for the Bears has he had 141 yards rushing and one touchdown on 25 carries. Their other touchdown was a 43-yards pass from Evan White to Chris Davis.