CALEDONIA — It’s time to move on.
That’s a sentiment shared by Caledonia High School football coach Andy Crotwell and Heritage Academy football coach Barrett Donahoe after their teams suffered loses in week five last week.
As disappointing as the losses to New Hope and Pisgah were, though, Crotwell and Donahoe don’t want the effects to linger because both squads have all of their goals still in front of them.
For Caledonia, the last steps on the road to the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A, Region 4 playoff chase will take place at 7 tonight at Tishomingo County. For Heritage Academy (2-3), the time is now, as archrival Starkville Academy comes to town at 7 tonight to kick off Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, Region 2 play.
It doesn’t matter which coach you ask because they will say similar things bout the importance of tonight’s games to their teams’ fortunes.
“We were all disappointed with the result, but there is no doubt the kids played hard,” Crotwell said of his team’s 27-24 loss to New Hope. “In a lot of instances, they played good assignment football. There were a lot of instances where we could improve, and we have used the game as motivation to improve in several areas. … I feel like we have moved on. We’re going to need to because Tishomingo County is a physical football team.”
Crotwell said his team addressed punt protection and kick coverage this week after seeing a blocked punt for a touchdown help the Trojans (1-3) steal the momentum en route to their 11th-straight victory in the series.
Crotwell said the fact that the Confederates trailed in the second half played a role in quarterback Spencer Unruh having to throw the football 44 times. He said Robert Hamilton continues to emerge as an option in the passing game, while Zion Ford, Jamel Thomas, and Mike Taylor showed flashes of being able to play even bigger roles in the passing game. Crotwell said New Hope’s strategy to crowd the box in an attempt to shut down Caledonia’s running game also played a role in the number of passes attempted.
Coming off one of the closest decisions in the series in recent memory, Crotwell said he didn’t take time this week to discuss what might have happened if the Confederates had done better. Instead, he praised the effort of his defense and defensive coordinator Brian White and stressed to the players that they couldn’t afford to let one loss turn into two because a challenging region schedule awaits and the team will need all of its focus if it wants to duplicate last season’s playoff appearance.
“I think we have a pretty mature bunch,” Crotwell said. “My expectation is they will show up (tonight) ready to play and play well. Obviously, Tishomingo County is going to have a lot to say about the outcome of the game. We feel like our guys are prepared and hungry to have another chance to play. That is all we’re looking at, as having another opportunity to play and making the most of it.”
Donahoe hopes Heritage Academy’s 45-24 loss at Pisgah puts his players on notice that they will have to be more physical if they want to get back to the playoffs. He credited senior running back TJ McGinnis for being the best player on the field and for being a load to take down. Still, he said his team was in the game at halftime, only to see a turnover with the Patriots trailing 21-14 turn the tide.
“We never could recover from that,” Donahoe said. “We had two bad offensive possessions in a row, but the positives were we did a lot of good things offensively. We have to be better defensively than we were.”
While Starkville Academy (4-1) might not have a singular talent to equal McGinnis, Donahoe said the Volunteers have a host of players who can be a game-breaker, including senior Colt Chrestman. He also singled out quarterback Houston Clark as the leader of an attack that has a lot of dimensions.
Last week, Starkville Academy rallied from a 21-0 point deficit to beat Washington School 31-21.
“It will be a challenge,” Donahoe said. “They have athletes, they have linemen up front with size, they have speed on the edge. There is a reason why they are ranked in the top five in the state and why everybody has them projected to win our conference. We have our work cut out for us.”
Donahoe said the Volunteers will present an equally difficult challenge on defense thanks in part to the work of defensive coordinator Brad Butler, a former head coach at Heritage Academy. Donahoe said physical play will be a key for the Patriots to have success in the first game of the second half of the season.
“The warmup games are over,” Donahoe said. “We scheduled that game last week for a reason. We wanted to see good competition before we got into league play. We wanted to see speed, to play fast. I think that is good for us.
“I don’t know any game that would get your blood pumping more and have you ready to play than this one this week.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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