MACON — Cupcakes create consistency.
But if anyone has looked at the Noxubee County High School football team’s schedule and knows coach Tyrone Shorter, it’s easy to tell Shorter hates cupcakes.
Instead of beefing up his team’s schedule with easy wins designed to boost confidence, the veteran coach prefers a harder plan — one designed to get the Tigers battled-tested for a run at a state championship.
The positive side to Shorter’s approach is Noxubee County shouldn’t be fazed by anyone it plays the rest of the season after surviving a gauntlet that included Starkville, Columbus, Louisville, Louisville, West Point, and Charleston to go 4-2.
The concern for Shorter is he hasn’t see the consistency from his offense that he knows that group can produce. Last week, Class 3A Charleston denied Noxubee County for three quarters before the Tigers scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to earn a 26-16 victory.
Things don’t figure to get any easier this week when Noxubee County plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Kosciusko in the Class 4A, Region 4 opener for both teams. Last season, Noxubee County needed to kick a late field goal to earn a 9-7 victory in Macon. Kosciusko (5-1) returns an experienced team that Shorter believes will present one of the toughest challenges in the region.
“Against really good defenses we struggle,” Shorter said. “I am concerned about that, but I do know this: We are at our best when we can run the football. That allows us to feed off our run to pass the ball. In the fourth quarter (against Charleston), we were able to run the ball and mix it up more. That is when we are at our best.”
Shorter felt his team wore down Charleston, which was forced to play multiple players both ways. He isn’t sure if his team will be able to do that against region teams, especially a team with as much experience as size as Kosciusko.
Shorter also is concerned about his team’s ability to adjust to defenses that bring a lot of pressure. Last week, he said Charleston followed the game plan West Point used with a lot of success in a 33-19 victory. That strategy involved a lot of blitzing that was designed to take junior quarterback Timorrius Conner out of his comfort. The scheme worked for three quarters, as Shorter said Conner and the Tigers’ offensive line had trouble reading the blitzing and making the right audibles into new plays. He said the lack of success against pressure is troubling because he knows his offense has the talent and the weapons to make things happen. He said plenty of plays were there to be had against Charleston, only to miss the opportunities because wide receivers didn’t read the blitz or offensive linemen filled the wrong gaps.
“We have to get better,” Shorter said. “We watch film and we have guys wide open (against the blitz), but we don’t have time to get it. My offensive coaches made some adjustments and we went hot when they blitzed, and we hurt Charleston with that. We hurt them twice with it. Hopefully, that is the key. But we have to make people pay that send six and seven guys at us because we have guys running wide open. We just have to sit in that pocket. You might take a lick, but you have to sit in there and deliver the football.”
Shorter acknowledges Conner has taken a good number of hits the past two weeks. An injury to his starting quarterback isn’t what Shorter needs, but he admits he needs Conner to do a better job deciphering the blitzes and getting rid of the football quicker. If those things happen, Shorter believes his passing game will open things up for the running game.
As for the defense, Shorter remains pleased with that group. Aside from a fumble recovery for a touchdown and a big pass play, Shorter said the defense didn’t give Charleston much. He said improved play from the special teams is another positive, but the defense is the only one of the three groups that has come close to playing at a high level every week. Until Shorter finds a go-to running back and the offensive finds its rhythm, he will keep working that unit hard and hopes it can build off the fourth quarter against Charleston.
“I think we can feed off the fourth quarter going into this game and have a lot of positive things to talk about,” Shorter said. “They came alive in the fourth quarter. That is the way we are used to seeing them play — having fun, coming off the ball, driving guys and running the football and mixing the run with the pass. We looked like we normally look. The kids feed off that, and then we are playing fast. It is just simple stuff. We might miss a block or we might not stay on a block. We just have to correct it and iron it out. We are using that Charleston game to get ready for our division play, and our division is going to be tough. I am trying to drill that into our kids’ heads.”
Noxubee County should be ready for the next six tests. It remains to be seen if it will be able to produce the consistency Shorter needs to pave a path to Starkville and the Class 4A state title game.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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