woodville — Wilkinson County High School football team will open up their season at home against Natchez High School Friday, and head coach Kenneth Brown said playing a team like Natchez early will get them ready for a tough season.

“It’s always tough because we don’t know what to expect,” Brown said. “We just played a jamboree last week; now it’s real.”

Brown said he counts on his defense to come in early and weed out Natchez’s strategy.

“We will run our base defense and try to get a feel on what they’re doing,” Brown said. “We’ll try to get some pressure on (quarterback Sidney) Davis, and hopefully a couple of our guys can come in and stop them from doing what they want to do.”

Though Brown hopes his defense will play aggressive, he said playing controlled is more important against a team like Natchez.

“We need to have a little more discipline on defense,” he said. “We jumped at the ball too much in the jamboree. We control that, and our chances are really good.”

On offense, Brown said he is depending heavily on his quarterback Devin Voorhies to use his senior leadership against the Bulldogs.

“(Voorhies) did well (in the jamboree),” Brown said. “He’s a coach on the field, and he’s a (Clarion-Ledger) Dandy Dozen selection this year.”

Brown said running back Roosevelt Tolliver and wide receivers Allenzae Staggers and LaDarion Peterson must steadily move the chains if they want to outscore Natchez.

“Staggers is catching the ball really well for us, and Peterson scored two long touchdowns (in the jamboree), so they both need to have a good game,” Brown said.

A victory against a Class 5A school can be a momentum-builder, and getting the win can be a great start to their season, Brown said.

“We look forward to a great game; hopefully we can find a way to win,” he said. “It’ll be a jump starter to a successful season. Our main goal is to play in Jackson in December. If we can compete with Natchez, our chances to advance in the playoffs will look up.”

WCHS will host Natchez High School at 7 p.m. Friday.

Franklin County High School

meadville — Franklin County High School is looking to get past the recent release of head coach Jim Nowell and move full speed ahead.

“It’s a difficult situation any time you lose a coach, especially a week before their first game,” Calcote said. “Our kids have accepted the challenge, and the seniors have stepped up as the leaders. We’ve had a great week despite that.

“The kids probably reacted better than the administration has.”

In Franklin County’s jamboree last Friday, Calcote said there were a lot of mistakes made, but it helped him and his coaching staff see where his team needed to improve.

“We made some mistakes that are correctable,” he said. “Our formation was one thing. We’ve made some adjustments, and we feel corrected what we needed to.”

After a week without a head coach, the Bulldogs are ready to showcase their skills against Brookhaven High School.

“We’re looking forward to hitting on someone else besides us,” Calcote said. “We’re looking to get better by playing.”

Calcote said his team must keep their offense on the field if they want to be successful against an experienced Brookhaven team.

“We have to play ball as much as we can,” Calcote said. “We can’t be three and out and give them more time with the ball. We have to get first downs and play our field position.”

Though the offense must play its part, Calcote said the Bulldogs’ defense will be the deciding factor in the game.

“Defense is our shining spot. We got a lot of kids back, and we feel we can run to the ball,” Calcote said. “We’re very athletic on that side of the ball.”

Calcote also said his defense would have to be aggressive in order to keep Brookhaven on its heels.

“We can’t give up big plays, we have to run to the football and get tackles,” he said. “We can’t hand them anything. If we play the defense we’re capable of playing, we’ll be fine.”

FCHS will host Brookhaven High School at 7 p.m. Friday.