Resurrection, St. Stanislaus see difficult tasks in title contests

CLINTON -- Resurrection Catholic coach Scott Sisson opened the MHSAA press conference Monday with probably the best quote of the day.

"By looking at their team on film ... My God, I've never seen anybody that fast in my life," he said of Simmons' speed.

The Eagles are going to have to find multiple ways to slow down the Blue Devil running game when the two teams meet for the Class 1A state championship at 11 a.m. on Friday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.

Sisson and St. Stanislaus coach Bill Conides both discussed their upcoming title contests on Monday in Clinton. SSC will face Noxubee County at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the Class 4A title game.

Both RCS and Simmons are seeking first state championships.

"Oh man they are quick," Sisson said. "I kept telling my coaches while we were watching film, 'Are you sure that isn't being fast forward?' And they told me, 'No they are that fast.'"

Resurrection (13-0) will have to find ways to slow down the Simmons (11-0) running game led by Mississippi State commit Nero Nelson.

"Our defense has been good to us all season, but they haven't seen speed like we are about to see Friday," Sisson said. "We are going to have to be in the right places and have to tackle well."

Simmons coach Taveres Johnson is concerned about Resurrection running back Patrick Watts, who has rushed for 1,167 yards with 10 touchdowns.

"We need to people to pray for us because he (Watts) is going to be hard to stop," Johnson said. "He's 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds. I have defensive linemen that are his size so yeah we are going have to find ways to slow him down."

For St. Stanislaus, it is all about getting some serious revenge.

The Rockachaws (11-3) will get another shot at Noxubee County (11-4) when the two teams will play for the Class 4A state title.

The Tigers defeated St. Stanislaus 48-27 in last years' 4A state title game.

St. Stanislaus coach Bill Conides posted pictures all over the field house during the offseason of Noxubee County celebrating the state championship last year.

"We are planning on taking those down," he said. "I think last year was an expectation to get there, but now that we got there and know how close that we were, we were determined to get back here. When I said that loss consumed us, it definitely did."

Conides mentioned that when he made the schedule in the offseason, he wanted every team to help prepare his players for Noxubee County.

The Rockachaws will have to try to slow a Tiger passing attack led by quarterback Timorrius Conner, who has thrown for 2,721 yards with 21 touchdowns. And they, of course, have to find out where Noxubee defensive end Jeffery Simmons is lined up.

"We've just got tackle well, get into our gaps and ultimately we have to create turnovers," Conides said. "Jeffery is just an explosive player and he can very disruptive."

Offensively, like it has all season, St. Stanislaus will lean on the passing game led by Myles Brennan.

"We've been a lot more efficient in the passing game and more explosive this year," Conides said. "But then again we can't be one dimensional. We are going to have to run the ball and against Noxubee that ain't easy."

Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter said Monday that his team is starting to get healthy again.

The Tigers at one point had seven starters out with injuries and that contributed to a midseason four-game losing streak.

"The injury bug hit us and once we got all of them back we started getting on a roll," Shorter said. "We not going to be able to stop on offense. They are going to make big plays. We have to find ways to slow it down and that is what helped us last year."

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Resurrection, St. Stanislaus see difficult tasks in title contests ."