MACON — The march is nearly complete.
But Noxubee County High School football coach Tyrone Shorter doesn’t want his team to look ahead to what is coming down the road. Instead of losing focus and jumping ahead a week to a showdown against Houston, the No. 2 team in the state’s Class 4A rankings, or the start of the playoffs and a quest for a third-straight state championship, Shorter wants his players’ attention solely on Caledonia.
While the Tigers (5-4, 3-0 Class 4A, Region 4) have won nine-straight meetings in the series, Shorter knows his team can’t take the Confederates (4-4, 1-2) lightly. Not only will the Caledonia seniors play their final regular-season home game when the teams meet at 7 p.m. Friday, but the Confederates also need one victory to secure one of the region’s four playoff berths.
That’s why Shorter knows Caledonia coach Andy Crotwell and his players will be sky high for an opportunity to snap the Tigers’ 24-game winning streak in Region 4.
Last week, Noxubee County escaped with a 34-26 victory against Louisville, the last team to beat it in a Region 4 game in 2011. Noxubee County broke out to a 28-0 lead, led 28-6 at halftime, and then had to withstand two scores by Louisville in the fourth quarter to hold on. The victory kept Noxubee County on track for a matchup against Houston (7-1, 3-0), which will take on Louisville on Friday. The top two seeds in the region will play host to first-round playoff games.
Shorter said he knew coach M.C. Miller, the former coach at Noxubee County High, and the Wildcats wouldn’t quit.
“The third quarter was terrible for us, and we let them get back in the game,” Shorter said. “We did enough in the fourth quarter to get the victory. I wasn’t satisfied with the team’s second-half effort on both sides of the ball. It was like we forgot how to tackle. We started making mistakes on both sides of the ball.”
Shorter said the game reminded him of the team’s 26-21 loss to Kemper County. In that game, the Tigers led 21-0 only to see the Class 3A Wildcats raise their level of play in the second half to beat the Tigers for the second-straight season. Shorter doesn’t want to see a repeat of that trend this season, which is why he stressed the importance of finishing to his players this week.
“To make a run at a state title again we have to play four quarter,” Shorter said. “We have to start fast and finish strong.”
Shorter said the silver lining of the game against Louisville was his team found a way to make a few plays after it struggled in the third quarter. He said that showed signs of growth from earlier in the season, when he felt the Tigers allowed mistakes to affect their play. He said the Tigers’ inexperience has factored into inconsistent play and prevented the team from playing four quarters. Shorter has tried to get his players to understand that can’t happen moving forward if the team wants to have a chance to win its third-straight Class 4A State title.
Noxubee County will try to achieve that goal with junior Armoni Clark and sophomore Maliek Stallings at quarterback. Shorter said the Tigers will continue to rotate Clark and Stallings because each player brings a different dimension to the offense. He said the Tigers will have to rely on both players and a deep and versatile group of skill players on offense to carry a bigger load for a defense that is still coming together and learning to communicate.
“I have all confidence in the world in this team,” Shorter said. “We are getting the job done, but we are still sloppy doing it. We aren’t hitting on all cylinders yet. Once this team does that, it is going to be scary.
“There is no reason this team shouldn’t be averaging 40-something points a game. We have to continue to get better defensively. We are kind of struggling a little bit defensively. We don’t have that dominant defensive line like we usually have and that linebacker play like we usually have, which is why we are kind of struggling a little bit defensively. Our offense is going to have to carry us.”
Caledonia is coming off a 31-14 victory against Kosciusko last week. The victory moved the Confederates one win away from getting back to the playoffs after a one-year absence.
Shorter complimented Caledonia last week after he watched game film of the team’s 34-27 loss to Louisville. He said the Tigers’ recent success in the series doesn’t matter because the Confederates have a lot to play for and will be dangerous at home.
For Shorter, that means it gets down to finishing.
“If they beat us, they could slide into third place in the region,” Shorter said. “They have a lot to play for. We are not looking past Caledonia because we can’t afford to because this is a different Caledonia football team.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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