East Central football’s young team is delivering wins in year No. 1 under Eric Collins
The East Central High School football team has shown each week that it has a good enough defense to contend for Class 5A South State.
On Friday at Pascagoula, the Hornets’ Wing-T offense revved its engine and showed that it may be ready to take the team to the next level.
East Central topped Pascagoula 44-30 to improve to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in Region 4-5A, breaking a second-place tie with the Panthers to stand a game behind undefeated Picayune (8-0, 5-0) with two games remaining in the regular season.
Eric Collins is in his first season of leading the East Central program after Seth Smith left to take over at Pearl River Community College.
Collins’ transition from Bay High to East Central was made easier by the fact that Smith’s ECHS program was not that different than the one he built at Pearl River Central, where Smith was on his staff.
“I think the adjustment for me was easy because of the groundwork Seth Smith laid,” Collins said. “Seth and I are good friends and he worked for me at Pearl River Central. He was my defensive coordinator, we think a lot a like. He went to East Central and implemented the same program I had at PRC. When I came in, the transition was simple.
“I have to give credit to my assistant coaches. It might have been (an easy transition for me), but it wasn’t for them. They have embraced me wholeheartedly.”
East Central winning with youth
What makes East Central’s one-loss mark so impressive is how young the team is.
The Hornets start six sophomores on defense and three on offense.
“At this time of year, they’re not really playing like sophomores anymore,” Collins said. “They’re playing like juniors.”
The sophomore who had the biggest night against Pascagoula is running back Eli Smith, who delivered a career high 186 yards on 22 carries, including a 54-yard touchdown.
He’s now up to 111 carries for 574 yards and six touchdowns. After averaging just 4.4 yards a carry through the first six games, he bumped that clip up to 8.5 yards in Friday’s game.
“The offensive line really helped me. They made some holes and I just went with my instincts,” Smith said.
Junior quarterback Deuce Hugger proved steady behind center for East Central, completing six of his nine passes for 72 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown to Tristan Lambert for the game’s first score. He also ran nine times for 65 yards and four touchdowns.
Three of his touchdowns came from 1 yard out, just following the interior of his offensive line in to the end zone.
“He’s so tough and he’s such a good player — an accurate passer who runs the offense,” Collins said. “He’s a leader and he can run. He makes great decisions. I can’t be more proud for Deuce.”
Senior Sam Walls also provided some tough yardage up the middle, running 12 times for 82 yards.
East Central overcomes big game by Keilon Parnell
East Central had to overcome a huge statistical night for Pascagoula sophomore quarterback Keilon Parnell, who completed 15 of 32 passes for 294 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also ran nine times for 141 yards and a touchdown.
His top target was Houston Johnson, a speedy junior who caught nine passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns.
Friday night’s victory clinched a spot in the playoffs, and they’re in good shape to host a first-round playoff game if they can win a couple of games down the stretch. The Hornets host Pearl River Central before traveling to Hattiesburg on Nov. 6 to close out the season.
If the young Hornets continue to show progress on offense each week, they’ll be a tough task each night the rest of the way.
“We’re just playing with a ton of confidence,” Collins said. “We started the year out and we didn’t know what to expect. We keep seeming to get better every game. Our guys play so hard from beginning to end. We’re playing with so much confidence and that’s hard to beat.”
Pascagoula, which drops to 4-4 and 3-2, next hosts Picayune.
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 11:16 PM.
