MACON — Desire, discipline, and dedication.
Those are the things Noxubee County High School football coach Tyrone Shorter is looking for from his players as the program enters the second part of its 2012 season.
So far, the Tigers have put those three things to use.
The fact that Noxubee County (6-0) has 23 seniors who have played together since seventh grade is one reason why the team is the unanimous No. 1 in Class 4A in this week’s The Associated Press poll. The Tigers also are ranked No. 4 in The AP’s overall rankings and No. 4 in The Clarion-Ledger’s Super 10 poll, which ranks the state’s best teams in all classifications.
But Shorter said focus will be crucial to help his players shake off the memory of their loss to Amory last season in the second round of the Class 4A North State playoffs.
After a start that includes victories against Starkville, New Hope, Aberdeen, and West Point, Noxubee County will take the first step in the second part of its season when it plays host to Kosciusko at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Class 4A, Region 4 opener for both teams.
“We are trying to instill in the kids that the first six games you want to win, but those games don’t count,” Shorter said. “Every game from here on out, those are the most important games. They realize that. These are the games that can get you the homefield advantage (for the playoffs), and they are motivated by that.
“They are showing me all of that (desire, discipline, and dedication). They are showing me they are dedicated and want to win and they want to get to Jackson. I think that is a motivator in itself. They want to get to Jackson. You don’t have to give them big motivational speeches or put stuff in the lockers. They are just determined. It makes my job a whole lot easier. I love coming to work because these guys don’t have a problem working hard. It has been great so far.”
Senior linebacker Antonio Ryland agrees. He has been part of a defense that will carry a three-game shutout streak into its game Friday. Noxubee County also has shut out Kosciusko (2-4) in its past four meetings, and has won the past six games in the series. But Shorter has cautioned his team that the Whippets, led by first-year coach Tyler Peterson, are much improved.
After learning a valuable lesson last season against Amory, Ryland said the Tigers are focused.
“We are playing pretty well,” Ryland said. “As we sit back and watch film, we are correcting our mistakes and we are getting better and better on Friday.”
Ryland said this season’s team will take a page from the 2008 team’s book. That team had all seven of its shutouts in a 9-0 regular season in which it allowed only 20 points. The Tigers then won five games in a row in the playoffs, including a 12-10 victory against D’Iberville to secure the program’s first state championship.
“They were very humble and mature. They knew one goal that all of them tried to get to,” Ryland said. “They all had each others’ backs. They had to work as a team. There is no ‘I’ in team. There is ‘We.’ There is one thing they had in mind, that was to get to Jackson.
“We watched things that they did and they showed us the example of how to get to Jackson.”
The defense might have been even better in 2009. Noxubee County had 10 shutouts that season, including six in a row to end the regular season. Noxubee County allowed 32 points in the regular season and 78 for the season. The problem was that 29 of those points came in a loss to Itawamba Agricultural High in the third round of the Class 4A North State playoffs.
Like the players on that team, many of the members of the 2012 team remember the “terrible” feeling of a 21-20 loss at Amory last season that ended their season too soon.
This season, Noxubee County is riding the strength of a dominating front seven. Ryland, who plays linebacker with Jeremy Hunt, said the Tigers’ success starts with the front line.
“When the line is getting the job done, it make it that much easier for me,” Ryland said of a 5-2 defense that features Javancy Jones, Dylan Bradley, Javoris Glenn, Anthony Skinner, and Deshawn Hopkins. He said all seven have been playing together since seventh grade. Even then, he said, there was talk that this group could be one that helped lead the team to Jackson.
“Everybody was always telling us when we would be seniors we were going to be the class that goes to Jackson,” Ryland said. “We owe a lot of people who started the tradition. We are trying to make ourselves happy getting to Jackson. We are trying to make the community happy because they are looking forward to getting down there.”
Ryland said the Tigers have been cutting down on the number of mistakes, but he said work remains to be done. Starting Friday, the goal will be for everyone to eliminate their mistakes and help the defense come together. If it does that, the Tigers just might challenge the record of the 2008 team.
“I think we are there now,” Ryland said when asked how close he thought this year’s defense was to matching that unit. “They made mistakes, too. Mistakes are part of the game, but it is what kind of mistakes you make.
“We have to stay humble and not look at how high we’re ranked. We have to keep our mind-set on one goal and don’t listen to all of the talk on the streets so you get overhyped.”
Shorter doesn’t think it will be hard to keep the players focused or motivated. He said more than 20 players called the coaches Saturday asking if they could come to the field house to work out. The same thing happened Sunday, when the coaches gathered to watch film and formulate a game plan for Kosciusko.
“That is a great sign,” Shorter said. “After they lift weights, they are going out and running routes. As a coach, you don’t mind getting up to open the weight room for the kids if they want to do that. That is a great sign that they are really hungry to win a state championship.
“We’re playing really great football right now defensively. I think it is three shutouts in a row, but we are really not focusing on the shutouts. We just want to win and play good defense. This group really wants to surpass the 2008 team. They keep asking how many shutouts did the 2008 team have, and then they count up how many games we have left on the schedule.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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