STEENS — Greg Watkins hopes he will get a refocused team with a return to district play.
The Immanuel Christian School football coach would welcome that thought after watching his team operate with less than ideal focus in back-to-back losses.
But Immanuel Christian (2-3) has another caveat to consider as it prepares for its game against Greenville Christian at 7 p.m. Friday night. A victory would put the Rams, who are 1-0 in Mississippi Association Independent Schools Class A, District 2, at 2-0 and in control of their fate with one district game remaining against Deer Creek. Two victories would help Immanuel Christian secure its first district title under Watkins, and possibly the school’s first in the sport in its time in MAIS.
That’s pretty heady stuff, so Watkins didn’t take any chances. Earlier this week, he had his players put the pads on for a few days of practice to get them back in the right mind-set. He liked what he saw in the first three days, and he hopes it will carry over to Friday night.
“The last two weeks we haven’t played anywhere near where as good as we have been,” Watkins said. “The one at Heidelberg was pretty bad. The score easily could have been the other way.
“We moved the ball three plays down to the 15 and two snaps over the quarterback’s head and we were back to our 45. It seemed like things like that happened all night. It just seems like we haven’t had the focus we needed to the past two weeks.”
Immanuel Christian opened district play with an 18-15 victory against Carroll Academy. Quarterback Jay Jay Swanigan connected with KC Cunningham on the game-winning touchdown pass with 30 seconds left to give the Rams the victory.
But the Rams weren’t able to build on that momentum. Losses to New Site (27-14) and Heidelberg Academy (40-12) dropped Immanuel Christian below .500 and left it searching for ways to improve its blocking and tackling, which is why Watkins broke out the pads.
Junior B.J. Shirley said the Rams needed to get back to the basics.
“We have been working on our line and doing drills,” Shirley said. “(Earlier in the season), we were way more focused. This week, our focus has been way more important because we’re tired of losing and we want to win a district title.”
Greenville Christian (1-4) is coming off a 48-0 loss to Benton Academy last week.
Its only victory is a 45-12 decision against Lee Academy. Greenville Christian hasn’t scored in its other three games.
Deer Creek (2-3) lost to Carroll Academy 14-0 in its district opener, so Watkins knows his team has a chance to win the four-team league if his team takes care of business. That would be a significant accomplishment considering Immanuel went 1-9 in district play the past two seasons in Class AA.
This season, though, Shirley said the Rams are confident even after not playing their best football in the last two games.
“We have a had a wake-up call,” Shirley said.
“We have been teaching our line to stay low. We are starting to focus, and we should be ready Friday.
“We have to execute. We missed too many tackles (last week). We really should have won that game.”
Watkins said his players know what the game means for the season and for the program. He said they recognized the things they didn’t execute the past two weeks and hopes a switch has been flipped so that they take care of the fundamentals and play to their potential.
If they do, Immanuel Christian will be one step closer to making history.
“Watching the game film, they were pretty humbled by what they saw,” Watkins said.
“On Monday, we probably hit better than we have in a long time. After beating up on each other the first three days of the week, I hope we will be ready to beat up on somebody else when we go to Greenville.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.