What we learned from the first week of South Mississippi high school football
The first week of high school football produced plenty of excitement and even gave us a few surprising results.
Twelve different Coast teams started the season with a win and plenty of athletes stood out with game-breaking performances.
Here’s everything we learned from the opening week.
The Red Rebel defense is for real
Harrison Central coach Tony Myers gave himseld and his team a challenge to kick off his tenure. The Red Rebels opened the season Friday against his former employer, the Oak Grove Warriors, and fell just short 18-15.
Oak Grove has won at least 10 games in each of the past four years and won a state championship in 2020. Equipped with a stout defense and a myriad of offensive weapons, the statewide expectation was a walk-in victory for the Warriors.
But that wasn’t the case.
The Warriors struck early with 10 quick points, but the Red Rebel defense quickly swarmed. Myers’ aggressive secondary began to play a factor, both down the field and around the line of scrimmage.
Defensive back Jaidon Parnell had two pass breakups and a tackle for loss, helping out a front seven that picked up another four stops behind the line. Star defensive lineman Amarion Ware had two of those himself, including a safety.
Oak Grove averaged nearly 40 points per game last season, but the Red Rebels held it to less than half that average and put themselves in position to nearly pull of the upset.
“I think defense is definitely our strong suit right now. ... I’m just proud of our defense,” Myers said after the game. “I think we can be one of the best defenses in the state.”
Vancleave has a new star tailback
If you weren’t bullish on the Bulldogs this season, you had good reason. Vancleave had to replace the graduated Dayan Bilbo, who was one of the most productive running backs in the state a year ago.
If Friday is any indication, Vancleave has a new back to feed. John Peterson had an electric game against Greene County, rushing for 355 yards on 31 carries.
Peterson scored six touchdowns in the 49-20 victory.
“You’re going to lose players every year, and (Dayan) Bilbo was a great one, but they’re two different styles of runners,” Vancleave coach Kevin Fant said. “(Peterson) is a hard runner and he’s been a leader since he was a freshman. He’s the epitome of what you want from a high school football player.”
The senior, who had 458 career yards heading into the game, was the catalyst in the Bulldogs’ first win over the Wildcats since 2010.
Hunter Parker had a strong game as the spell back, rushing for 86 yards and a touchdown. The offense tallied more than 500 total yards.
Don’t count out D’Iberville
At least not just yet.
The Warriors came into the season with just one returning starter for first-year head coach Josh Ladner and opened the season against a stout St. Stanislaus squad.
The inexperience proved to be no issue, however, as D’Iberville rolled to a 41-14 win.
“Our coaching staff and our kids really put the work in,” Ladner said. “Friday night, we wanted it to show. We knew there would be some first-game jitters, and we faced a bit of adversity, giving up a fumble return touchdown on the first drive of the game, but after that our kids settled down and became the team we wanted them to be and expected them to be.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see it. You see them practice, you see them work. You wonder, once they get out there on Friday night are they going to play this well? Because they’ve never experienced it. To see them actually do that, it was a good feeling.”
The only returning starter is quarterback Gage Peterson, who found himself surrounded by playmakers who ran wild against the Rock-a-Chaws.
Kevin Rogers, Kaleb Booker and Aziyon Abraham combined for 393 all-purpose yards. The trio accounted for 155 total yards all of last season.
“We got a lot of backs that can really carry the ball,” Ladner said. “It isn’t just one guy and that’s really the way we want it. We really want it to be one of those things where it’s a shared thing.”
The competition quickly gets stiffer this week for the Warriors when they face Laurel at home.
Has West Harrison arrived?
The Hurricanes have long languished near the bottom of the South Mississippi totem poll. The program entered 2022 with just 21 all-time wins in 13 seasons.
Now it has 22.
West Harrison, led by coach Quincy Patrick, has what may be one of its deepest teams ever and several reasons to be excited about the future.
That future may be arriving sooner rather than later after dominating Bay High, the 2021 Region 8-4A runner-ups, in the opening week, 28-7.
What’s more, is the Hurricanes did it without star running back Melvin Pickens, who was lost for the season during camp.
“We lost Melvin Pickens the football player, but we gained Melvin Pickens the mentor, the leader and the player coach,” Patrick told the Sun Herald. “No replacing a Melvin Pickens, he’s a wonderful football player but, man, he’s an even better person.”
In lieu of Pickens, the Hurricanes got 335 rushing yards from a quartet of ball carriers. Leading the way was sophomore Jeremy Jones, who racked up 123 yards and two scores on 17 attempts.
“I’m extremely excited for our players, but even more excited for our school and our community,” Patrick said.
