By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
HATTIESBURG – Tony Vance calls third down, “the money down,” and Saturday night the pay was good for his Hattiesburg High Tigers in their 2018 football season opener at D.I. Patrick Stadium.
The Tigers converted 11 of 13 third downs, including six of six in the second half, to get past Petal 35-26. Just for good measure, Hattiesburg also converted the only time it went for it on fourth down.
“We work on that,” said Vance. “We spent a lot of time on executing on third down, keeping the chains moving and keeping the ball.”
The Tigers got a big game from its Dandy Dozen quarterback Jarod Conner, who led Hattiesburg with 152 yards rushing on 24 carries and scored three touchdowns.
Conner also completed 7 of 14 passes for 157 yards and a 58-yard scoring strike in the third quarter that gave the Tigers what proved to be an insurmountable lead. Conner struggled passing the ball early in the game, missing the mark of his first three passes.
“It was a good win for us and the community, a rivalry game,” said Conner. “I just had to settle into the game and get my emotions under control. The game plan was just to take what they gave us, and we did that tonight.”
Conner and the Tigers established their offensive dominance, especially on the ground, on the first series of the game, as Hattiesburg drove 66 yards on 10 plays for a touchdown with the opening kickoff.
Senior tailback Drexlan Allen ripped off runs of 12 and 17 yards on the first two plays of the game, then Conner scrambled 20 yards on a third-and-8 to the Petal 15-yard-line.
The Tigers failed to convert on third-and-goal, when Conner was stopped a yard short of the goal line, but senior defensive end Jaren Handy came on with the jumbo package and powered it in for the score.
“That felt pretty good,” said Handy, who transferred to HHS from Perry Central this season and had a key sack in the fourth quarter. “I just want to do anything I can to help the team win.”
Petal came right back on the ensuing series, following a 30-yard kickoff return by senior Zy Magee to the Panther 44. Junior Micah McGowan showed his slippery moves on the seven-play scoring drive, especially on a 27-yard touchdown run.
“We’ve got three pretty good running backs, and I thought Micah ran hard tonight,” said Petal coach Marcus Boyles. “I just know what we have in us, and I’m not satisfied with much of anything we did tonight.”
McGowan ran 28 times for 119 yards and scored three touchdowns, and junior Rashad Handford added 68 yards on 11 carries for the Panthers.
Petal hurt itself on its next two possessions, losing fumbles that stopped promising drives, and Hattiesburg took both turnovers the other way for scores.
The first came after the Panthers stopped Hattiesburg on a three-and-out for the Tigers’ only punt of the game, of just 21 yards to give Petal the ball at its own 47. Petal drove to a first down at the Tiger 19 before the turnover.
Hattiesburg took over at their own 8-yard-line after a penalty on the play and drove 92 yards on 12 plays, with Conner getting the score on a 26-yard dash early in the second quarter.
Petal came right back and drove to the Tiger 19, but on fourth down the Panthers once again lost the handle, and the Tigers needed just eight plays to go 81 yards, with Conner scoring on a 13-yard run to take a 21-7 lead.
The Panthers got back in the game on the next series, beating the clock and converting a pair of third downs of their own before scoring on a 4-yard pass from junior DeCarlos Nicholson to Handford with three seconds remaining in the first half.
McGowan and Handford took turns gashing the Tigers up the middle on the first possession of the second half, with McGowan scoring on a 1-yard run. But the PAT kick was missed, denying the Panthers the opportunity to tie the game.
“We rotated some people in and out,” said Vance. “We’re real young at the linebacker position. All our starting linebackers (from last year) graduated, so that’s a position where we have four guys battling, and all four played tonight.”
The Tiger defense responded by holding Petal to consecutive three-and-outs on the Panthers’ next two possessions, while the offense put together a pair of touchdown drives.
Conner capped an eight-play, 56-yard drive with a 1-yard run, then zipped a 58-yard scoring strike to senior Darius Ruffin. Junior Kendyl Terrell converted her fifth PAT kick of the game to give the Tigers a 35-20 lead.
A pair of turnovers, a fumble by Conner at the Panther 40 after a 17-yard run and an interception, gave Petal a chance to come back in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers cashed the first turnover in on a 60-yard scoring drive, with McGowan scoring on a 9-yard run with 5:48 to play, but the PAT pass failed.
After junior Michael Windham swiped Conner’s pass at the Panther 31, Nicholson hit Magee for a 31-yard pass to get Petal in position to narrow the lead.
However, the Panthers were unable to get the ball into the end zone despite having a wide-open receiver on back-to-back plays. The dropped pass on the second came on fourth down, and Hattiesburg was able to run out the final 2:03 off the clock.
“We had too many missed assignments, we fumbled the football, dropped balls and missed tackles on defense,” said Boyles. “They’ve got a heck of a football team, and you can’t do that against a good football team.”
Allen added 110 yards on 19 carries for Hattiesburg, which amassed 428 yards of offense.
Petal will be back on the road on Friday to face Gulfport, while Hattiesburg has another Saturday night date this week, as the Tigers host Laurel in the annual Battle for the Little Brown Jug.
“That’s a special game, and our community puts a lot of emphasis on it,” said Vance. “Laurel has an extremely talented team, so we’re going to have to play our best to win.”
GAME SUMMARY
Saturday at Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg 35, Petal 26
Petal 7 7 6 6 – 26
Hattiesburg 7 14 14 0 – 35
First Quarter
H – Jaren Handy 1 run (Kendyl Terrell kick), 8:33 (10 plays/66 yards/3:27 possession).
P – Micah McGowan 27 run (Jackson Bowering kick), 5:29 (6/56/3:04).
Second Quarter
H – Jarod Conner 26 run (Terrell kick), 11:04 (12/92/4:12).
H – Conner 13 run (Terrell kick), 2:49 (8/81/3:03).
P – DeCarlos Nicholson 4 pass to Rashad Handford (Bowering kick), 0:03 (10/65/2:46)
Third Quarter
P – McGowan 1 run (Kick failed), 7:47 (11/63/4:13).
H – Conner 1 run (Terrell kick) 4:20 (8/56/3:27).
H – Conner 58 pass to Darius Ruffin (Terrell kick), 1:20 (4/77/1:39).
Fourth Quarter
P – McGowan 9 run (Pass failed), 5:48 (6/60/1:35).
TEAM STATISTICS
P H
First downs 21 21
Total yards 300 428
Rushes-yards 45-222 48-271
Passing yards 78 157
Comp-Att-Int 7-13-0 7-14-1
Fumbles-lost 2-2 5-1
Penalties-yards 4-44 9-69
Punts-total (avg.) 2-79 (39.5) 1-21 (21.0)
3rd down conv. 6-10 11-13
4th down conv. 0-2 1-1
Time of possession 23:47 24:13
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Petal – Micah McGowan 28-119, Rashad Handford 11-68, Camron Martin 2-22, DeCarlos Nicholson 4-13; Hattiesburg – Jarod Conner 24-152, Drexlan Allen 19-110, Darius Ruffin 1-11, Jaren Handy 1-1, Jamal Donaldson 3-(-3).
Passing
Petal – DeCarlos Nicholson 7-14-0-78; Hattiesburg – Jarod Conner 7-14-1-157.
Receiving
Petal – Trent Wiliams 3-43, Zy Magee 3-31, Rashad Handford 1-4; Hattiesburg – Darius Ruffin 4-96, Kadarius Hicks 2-46, Drexlan Allen 1-10.
