The mark of a good team is its ability to bounce back from a tough loss or to recharge after an emotional high.
Kris Pickle already has seen how his New Hope High School football team responded from a disappointing defeat. Now he will get a chance to see how the Trojans answer the bell following one of the biggest victories in program history.
Last week, Brenton Spann scored on a 4-yard run with 27 seconds remaining to help lift New Hope to a 20-15 victory against West Point in a Class 5A, Region 1 game in West Point. The victory allowed New Hope (9-1, 5-1 region) to clinch second place in the region and earn a home game in the first round of the Class 5A North State playoffs.
At 7 p.m. Friday, Pickle will see how his players respond from a physical game and the emotion from beating one of their biggest rivals for the first time since 1998 when they play host to Saltillo (7-4, 3-3).
“(On Monday), you could tell we had been in a pretty physical game because we came out to practice a little bit sluggish and kind of quiet at first,” Pickle said. “But as practice went on, the soreness kind of wore off and they practiced real hard.
“You always worry after a big game having that letdown. We can caution them against it or guard against it and we can tell them all you want to, but, at the end of the day, it is hard to get a 15- or 16-year-old kid to understand that.”
New Hope’s latest victory helped it climb to No. 8 in The Associated Press’ overall top 10 and No. 2 in Class 5A behind Oxford. Pickle doesn’t think his team will allow those rankings to be a distraction because he feels the team is focused on a long-range goal of traveling to Starkville to play for a state title. He saw that drive and hunger in his players’ eyes when he took over for Shawn Gregory as head coach. He said the key to realizing those dreams was to get the players to believe they could be a championship team. On Friday, the Trojans backed up their aspirations with a signature win that included a dominating defensive performance in the second half and an offense that found a way to finish after being thwarted for much of the second half.
“We moved the ball on them in the second half,” Pickle said. “We had to correct some things in our protection issues in the first half, and we got that corrected. In the third quarter, we had a scoring opportunity and missed the ball in the end zone. … In the first half, we had an interception in the end zone and we had a drop in the end zone.”
Pickle said the Trojans were hoping Spann would score on the final play. He said he and his coaches kind of “lost their breath” when they saw Spann bounce the run out to the right, which would have given the team’s kicker a tough angle to attempt a game-winning field goal. Fortunately, Spann made the most of the decision and capped a four-minute drive with a playoff berth on the line.
“That is a big-time drive in a big-time environment with two teams that play extremely hard throughout the game,” Pickle said. “That’s one thing about football. You have to make plays. Luckily, we were able to make one more than them at the end.”
To do that on the road against a perennial nemesis punctuated the program’s maturation, Pickle said, and proved to everyone that the game wasn’t “too big” for the Trojans. He said his players believed they belonged on the field with West Point and never thought they were out of the game, even after the mistakes. He credited his defense for allowing zero first downs and 4 yards in the second half.
“That is a mark of maturity for the guys,” Pickle said. “It lets us know as a coaching staff that they believe that they belong and that no matter how big the task they can get it done.”
Pickle said he wants to see New Hope “finish what it started.” He hopes the players won’t feel satisfied that beating West Point is enough this season. With plenty of seniors on the roster and coming off three-straight seasons without a playoff berth, Pickle is confident his players will respond.
“I want them to be hungry, and I hope this win made them even more hungry,” Pickle said. “If their fuel, you could say, is to get back to Oxford or West Point again, hopefully we can use that to try to get us back to that situation.
“I hope the win makes them come out and work harder. When you have some big wins in a season, the easiest thing — no matter what level you play at — is to become content and satisfied. That is when your guard falls down and you get beat.”
Saltillo is tied with Clarksdale for the region’s fourth and final playoff spot. Clarksdale holds the tiebreaker thanks to a 20-15 victory, so a win against Center Hill on Friday night would guarantee it a postseason berth.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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