Prep teams ready for another Friday

Published 12:03 am Thursday, October 2, 2014

CENTREVILLE — The Centreville Academy Tigers, the top-ranked team in all of MAIS Class AA, will look to remain undefeated when they play host to the Bowling Green School Buccaneers in a District 6-AA game 7 p.m. Friday.

Last week, Centreville (6-0, 2-0) shut out a Silliman Institute team on the road 23-0 while Bowling Green (1-5, 0-1) lost to Trinity Episcopal 41-6.

And while the Tigers are coming off a big win in what was a battle of top five teams in Class AA, assistant coach Brian Stutzman does not want the players to take the reeling Buccaneers lightly or have a letdown.

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“It is always a concern. But with the seniors we have, we hope they play each game as important as the last one,” Stutzman said. “This is a (district) game. You’ve got to win your (district) games. It’s important to have a great attitude and work hard at it.”

Centreville will face a Bowling Green offense that mostly runs the ball. The Buccaneers run the majority of their plays out of the pro set. Stutzman said they will also run some spread offense. Defensively, they run a 4-3 set.

“Offensively, No. 15 (Connor McCain) seems to be their go-to guy. They’ll run him sometimes at quarterback, at tailback, out wide. He’s their playmaker,” Stutzman said. “On defense, they’re pretty solid. They do a good job pursuing the ball. They’re pretty strong up front.”

Crystal Springs at Jefferson County

FAYETTE — Coming off a road win over South Delta High School, the Jefferson County High School Tigers will now turn their attention to the Crystal Springs High School Tigers in a MHSAA Division 7-3A opener for both teams.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday. Not only will the winner of this game be off to a good start in division play, but this is Jefferson County’s homecoming game.

And that is something head coach James Herrington and his assistant coaches are very aware of as the week progresses.

“We’ve had pretty good practices this week. Homecoming week’s always a busy week. On the whole, we’ve had pretty productive practices thus far,” Herrington said. “We are in good health all across the board. Going into division play, that’s always a plus.”

Herrington said that the players must focus on the game itself and not get distracted by the outside factors that go with homecoming week.

“The activities, we normally say that’s for the community and for the girls. We give them some leeway for the activities. But the focus is on the game plan,” Herrington noted.

Bossier at Block

JONESVILLE — For the second year in a row, both Bossier High School and Block High School will enter their match-up Friday night with identical 0-4 records.

Last year, the LHSAA Class 3A Bearkats defeated the Class 1A Bears 21-8. That would be their only win of the entire 2013 season.

And while Block has had to deal with injuries to Raymond Plummer and Taylor Perron-Krause in recent weeks, Bossier has had its share of problems scoring points and stopping the opposition.

In its first four games of the 2014 season, the Bearkats’ offense has scored a grand total of 35 points (8.75 points per game). And their defense has given up 186 points in that span (46.5 points per game).

“They’re getting better. They could go out and play this week. But I want to make sure they’re 100 percent,” Vault said of Plummer and Perron-Krause.

Vault also coaches the junior varsity team, which had a game Monday night at Delta Charter School. Because of that, the first varsity practice wasn’t until Tuesday.

“We’re getting some valuable experience from our younger players. We’ll just go out and compete,” Vault said. “Hopefully, there will be no injuries in practice this week.”

Wilkinson County vs. Franklin County

MEADVILLE — One of the best rivalries in MHSAA Division 7-3A will have another chapter Friday night when the Franklin County High School Bulldogs play host to the Wilkinson County High School Wildcats. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

But don’t expect the offensive fireworks that last year’s game produced. Wilkinson County came away with a 40-28 win over Franklin County in that encounter.

Last Friday night, Franklin County pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season when it traveled to Carthage and stunned now-previously undefeated Leake Central 29-14. Wilkinson County, on the other hand, had no answer for Greenwood High School in a 62-19 loss at home.

The head coaches for both teams had a unique perspective on this key division game and what’s at stake for both teams.

Franklin County head coach Anthony Hart said he is not concerned about the Bulldogs having a letdown or being too ready after their win over Leake Central.

“I think we’ll be fine. This will be the game that counts. It’s all about getting to the postseason,” Hart said.

“It’s a district game. We put the first half of the season behind us. These are the ones that count if we want to get to the postseason,” Wilkinson County head coach Kenneth Brown said.

While one team is coming off a win and the other is coming off a loss, both Hart and Brown said that practice has gone well so far this week.

“Everything’s gone good,” Hart said.

“So far, so good. We kind of picked it up Tuesday. Seems to be going pretty good,” Brown said.

After being out with an injury last week, Franklin County may have starting quarterback De’Mantre Collins back for Friday night’s game. Wilkinson County, however, will be without linebacker Patrick Patterson and could be without offensive tackle Malik Haynes.

“One for sure is out, and the other is depending on the doctor’s release,” Brown said.

If Collins returns to the starting lineup, Hart will have all of his starters on offense and defense on the field for the first time since taking on North Pike Aug. 29.

Offensively, the two teams are complete opposites. Wilkinson County uses the spread offense while Franklin County relies primarily on the running game.

“They’re very fast and very athletic,” Hart said about Wilkinson County’s offense. “Their quarterback (Desmond Hunter) throws the ball well. They’ve got a couple of good receivers and they have a good running back (Lamar Jackson).

“We have to meet them head on. We have to load up and be ready for play.”

Brown also said Jackson needs to have at least as good of a game this Friday night as he did against Greenwood if the Wildcats are to have any chance of defeating the Bulldogs.