Tyrone Shorter doesn’t want to talk about letdowns.
As far as the Noxubee County High School football is concerned he is ready for his Tigers to hit their stride and to set a course for Jackson, the site of the Mississippi High School Activities Association state title games.
Shorter knows his team will face plenty of possible roadblocks — namely Louisville and Lafayette — in its way before it reaches Jackson, but he is confident his players are coming together despite several key injuries.
Shorter’s confidence comes from Noxubee County’s 22-17 victory against two-time defending Class 5A state champion West Point last week in Macon. Not only did the Tigers beat the Green Wave without their starting quarterback — Deangelo Ballard — and one of their starting running backs — Ladarrell Hunt — they also received a stout effort from a defense that is rounding into shape.
All of that has Shorter feeling good as his team prepares to face Kemper County at 7:30 tonight in its final non-region game.
“(The win against West Point) says a lot about these young guys,” Shorter said. “We have worked very hard, and all week the coaches did a good job of preparing the kids. What we preach is about playing as one and we can accomplish anything. No matter who gets the glory or the touchdowns or the tackles, we are playing as one right now. These guys are starting to believe they can go all of the way to Jackson.”
Shorter said he and his coaches put too much pressure on players at the beginning of the season. As a result, he said players were thinking too much and not playing as aggressively or reacting as quickly.
“We had to go back and simplify our defense,” Shorter said. “We also were banged up at beginning and that took away from our aggressiveness. We’re starting to get back healthy and we’re making it simple so the kids are just reacting.”
In the past two weeks, Shorter said the defense has found one voice behind junior lineman Javancy Jones and is playing like swarming defenses of old.
Now the trick is to get healthy.
Shorter said Noxubee County could get Hunt back in time for the region opener at Kosciusko next week. He said Ballard could return in a week or two after that. Either way, he said the team is more confident with senior quarterback Kamal Chamberlain, who Shorter said played well against West Point.
The silver lining is Chamberlain’s play could give the Tigers an added wrinkle that will make them even more dangerous when Ballard gets back.
“He hasn’t played (quarterback) since eighth grade,” Shorter said of Chamberlain. “He is a very good athlete. He is a hungry kid who is eager to learn. Wherever we put him he will give his best give his all.”
That’s the attitude all of the Tigers apparently are taking. Shorter thought the players would be flat this week coming off such a big victory in a rivalry game. But he said the team has had a great week of practice and continues to sharpen its focus.
“I feel everything is starting to jell at the right time,” Shorter said. “This is when we want to start to jell coming into district time. When we go into district we want to be the No. 1 seed and we want to go into district healthy. The defense is picking up its game and the offense is doing the same. With two of our key offensive players out we’re still able to score a lot of points. I am excited where our team is heading going into district play.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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