The Noxubee County High School football team had to fight the urge to look ahead to its game against Spain Park (Ala.).
The Tigers and all of Noxubee County had to resist the temptation of thinking about their C Spire Wireless “Bright Lights Football” regionally televised game against Louisville.
Now Noxubee County will have to re-adjust its focus and avoid thoughts of getting to Jackson, the site of the state title game, because one more loss will mean the end of its season.
At 7 tonight, Noxubee County will take the first step on a road it hopes leads to Jackson when it plays host to North Pontotoc in the first round of the Class 4A North State playoffs.
Noxubee County (9-2) is coming off a 36-7 victory last week against Caledonia in its regular-season finale. The Tigers earned the No. 2 seed in Region 4 thanks to a 1-12 loss to Louisville on Oct. 20 in Macon.
That loss was a sticking point for coach Tyrone Shorter and his players, but he feels everyone has put that loss behind them.
“I think we had a great week of practice,” Shorter said. “We feel good, and we know there is no tomorrow and that we have to take care of business (against North Pontotoc) to reach our goals, and our goal is to get to Jackson.”
The winner of tonight’s game will take on the winner of the Indianola Gentry-Amory game. If Noxubee County wins, it will have to travel to either opponent.
But Shorter isn’t looking ahead that far because he knows North Pontotoc (9-2), the No. 3 seed out of Region 2 behind Lafayette and New Albany, is a dangerous team. He hopes his team poses just as much trouble after it spent the past few weeks correcting mistakes.
Shorter addressed that concern by having his first-team offense go up against his first-team defense in practice this week. He said the team used that practice early in the season but had to stop doing it because the squad suffered so many injuries.
Now, though, Shorter said there is no better way for each unit to prepare for the playoffs than to compete against each other.
Shorter also said the Tigers have been working on their effectiveness from the 30-yard line on in. He said he and his assistant coaches examined games this season and watched too many instances where the Tigers drove up and down the field, even against Spain Park and Louisville, yet failed to convert when they were in the final third of the field.
Shorter hopes all of that work pays off tonight and sparks a run deep into the playoffs.
“I think our kids are really up for this game,” Shorter said. “They don’t know too much about North Pontotoc, so it is easy for them to get motivated to play this game. They just know they have a good record and they have to come out and play.”
Shorter also feels good about the progress junior quarterback Deangelo Ballard has made since the loss to Louisville. He said the Tigers have gone through situations to prevent Ballard and the offense from making the mistakes they made earlier in the year. He felt Ballard may have been thinking too much about what to do, so he and the coaches decided to “take the game out of his hands and put it in the right situations ourselves.” He believes Ballard won’t make the same mistakes again.
As for his team, Shorter said it is about 85-90 percent healthy and it as ready as it will be to make a push to Jackson.
“Practice has been really intense this week,” Shorter said. “I think they are really focused. I feel good about (tonight).”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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