By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
This is the first of three stories previewing the 2019 high school football season in the Pine Belt. Today’s story features the area’s three largest schools, Hattiesburg, Oak Grove and Petal.
The second story will highlight the area’s Class 4A programs: Forrest County AHS, Purvis and Sumrall, with the third to focus on the remaining small schools, Lumberton, North Forrest, Presbyterian Christian and Sacred Heart.
PETAL
A year ago, it was a young team that entered the season with plenty of questions. Petal took some time to find itself, starting the season 1-6, but the Panthers finished strong with a five-game winning streak and a hard-fought second-round playoff loss to Oak Grove.
This year it’s a different story. Marcus Boyles returns for his eighth season as the head coach at Petal – after a brief retirement in the spring – with most of his top players returning for 2019.
The Panthers will enter the season ranked 10th in the state in the Mississippi Gridiron preseason rankings
“This team has a chance to be real good,” said Boyles. “As always, we must protect the football and stay hungry, but we return a lot of talent from last year.”
It all starts at quarterback for the Panthers, and senior DeCarlos Nicholson showed he has the potential to play at the next level, getting better as last season progressed after being thrust into the starting role without much experience.
“I thought DeCarlos made great strides last year,” said Boyles. “He was playing good football at the end of the season, and we’re expecting really good things from him this year.”
Last season, Nicholson (6-foot-3, 180 pounds) completed 113 of 215 passes (52.6 percent) for 1,446 yards, 11 touchdown passes and just four interceptions. He also rushed for 507 yards on 107 carries and four scores.
Nicholson has the luxury of a veteran receiving corps, led by juniors Jonathan Harris (5-11, 170) and Jeremiah Robinson (6-0, 171), and a terrific senior tandem at running back in Rashad Handford (5-11, 175) and Micah McGowan (5-11, 190).
McGowan was Petal’s leading rusher last season with 1,219 yards on 229 carries, and Handford was right behind him with 951 yards on 145 rushes, each scoring 13 touchdowns on the ground.
“(McGowan and Handford) each bring something different to the table,” said Boyles.
“Micah is a more physical runner who runs between the tackles extremely well, and he runs through tackles. Rashad is a guy who can make you miss, and he can go 80 yards any time he touches the football. He’s a big-play guy for us.”
Robinson and Harris were second and third on the team in receiving yards last season, with 288 and 241 yards, respectively, each with 19 catches.
“Those guys all started some games, and played a lot for us last year,” said Boyles. “They were all sophomores, so they had some growing pains, but they’re a year older and we’re expecting more out of them this year.”
Up front, Petal returns just two starters in junior Caleb Taylor (6-1, 315) and senior Konner Hitson (6-0, 265).
Defensively, the Panthers have plenty of experience returning, especially among the front seven.
“That’s going to be the strength of our defense, the front seven,” said Boyles. “We feel real good about that group. We’ve got several new faces starting, but fortunately, they played a lot last year.”
Senior linebacker Ja’Korian Newsome (6-1, 190) was Petal’s leading tackler last season with 103, including 13 for loss, plus four sacks. Senior nose guard R.J. Proctor (6-1, 266) is also back after recording 49 tackles, seven for loss.
Senior Michael Windham (5-9, 175) returns at free safety, but is the only returning starter in the secondary for Petal.
Petal has gotten used to winning under Boyles’ tenure as head coach, and he expects the same effort this year.
“Our region is very tough, so our kids understand that they have to be ready to play every Friday,” said Boyles. “If the kids can stay focused, we can be as good as we want to be, and our job as coaches is to keep them focused.”
OAK GROVE
Unlike their rivals from across town, Oak Grove won’t be starting the season in the rankings, after losing a talented senior group that led the Warriors to the Class 6A South State title, ending their 12-3 campaign with a narrow 31-27 loss to Horn Lake in the state finals.
But don’t shed any tears for Drew Causey as he enters his fifth season at the Warriors’ helm. Oak Grove has plenty of talent on hand to make another championship run.
The key question, though, is who will take the snaps in place of the departed John Rhys Plumlee, who took his versatile talents to Ole Miss.
“No doubt, he’s hard to replace,” said Causey. “Right now, we’ve got three kids that are running about even for the starting job. They all bring something a little different to the table.”
Those three are senior Damon Stewart (6-0, 175), who transferred from Georgia, junior Jackson Allen (6-1, 185) and sophomore Kabe Barnett. Whoever takes over has big shoes to fill, as Plumlee passed for 2,834 yards and 33 touchdowns, and ran for 1,444 yards and 19 scores.
Once the Warriors settle on a quarterback, that player will have a lot to work with, starting with a receiving corps that is deep and talented.
Leading the way is senior Brandon Hayes (6-2, 185), who caught 10 passes for 236 yards and four touchdowns despite missing most of the season with injury. Also back are seniors Tavion Smith (6-4, 195) and Liam Breithaupt (5-10, 170).
Last year, Smith caught 44 passes for 720 yards and five TDs, and Breithaupt had 39 receptions for 602 yards and five scores.
“That’s a real talented group of receivers,” said Causey. “We happy about having Brandon Hayes back from injury, and we’ve also got Eric Robinson, who came in during the spring from North Forrest. He’s going to help us on both sides of the ball.”
Oak Grove is also experienced in the backfield, with senior Nick Milsap (5-10, 195) and junior E.J. Newell (5-6, 165), and Causey is high on untested sophomore Dontavious Howard (5-10, 163).
On the offensive line, the Warriors will put together a group that includes three retuning starters and several others who saw action last season. Returning starters include seniors Caleb Fortenberry and senior Trent Jackson (6-0, 297).
Defensively, the Warriors will welcome a new defensive coordinator in Benji Merchant, and he’s got plenty to work with.
“We’re very excited about our defense,” said Causey. “I think that’s really the strength of our team coming into the season. We’ve got all four of our linebackers who started for us last year, and they had close to 400 tackles among them.”
Oak Grove returns its top two tacklers from last season in seniors Joey Griffith (6-0, 235) and Javarian Jenkins (6-0, 225). Griffith had 165 tackles, with eight for loss, along with six sacks, and Jenkins had 129 stops, six for loss, and two sacks.
Griffith figures to team with senior Graham McCarty (5-11, 180) in the middle, with Jenkins and senior Tyree Jackson on the outside.
The Warriors are young on the defensive line, but they have players there who have played, including senior Kelsey Davis, and juniors Tyson Thibodeaux and Darrian King (6-4, 240).
The secondary will build around senior Jaylen Knight (5-10, 170), who has started the past two seasons. Junior Zach Little has experience and he will be in the mix as a safety.
Oak Grove an extra week of preseason, with an open date the first weekend of the season, then it’s 11 straight weeks with a challenging schedule, both region and non-region. Among the latter is a contest against Louisiana power Archbishop Rummel.
“I’d like to have that last week before region play starter, but we had this same schedule in 2013 and 2014, and it worked out pretty well,” said Causey. “You suit up and play every week.
“I like our schedule. It’s tough, but this is Oak Grove and you’re going to play a tough schedule every year.”
HATTIESBURG
It’s back to the drawing board for Hattiesburg, as the Tigers graduated the heart of the team that lost just twice over the past two seasons, in the Class 5A state finals in 2017 and in the 5A South State semifinals.
Yet Tony Vance is approaching his seventh season at the Tiger helm with a world of confidence. He thinks Hattiesburg is a program that can reload rather than rebuild.
“I don’t know that you do replace those guys,” said Vance. “We’ve got a lot of young kids who have to be blue-collar guys who put in the work to be successful.”
The first job is to find someone who can somewhat replicate the results the Tigers got from Jared Conner, who passed for 2,324 yards and 24 touchdowns, and picked up 1,622 yards and 27 scores on the ground.
“Right now, it’s still up for grabs,” said Vance. “We’ve got two kids in the hunt, Jermaine Powell and Jordan Willis, both juniors who played some last year.”
Hattiesburg must also replace Drexlan Allen at running back. Allen rushed for 1,277 yards and 18 scores last season. Two players who saw some action last season are bidding to fill that spot in senior Jamal Donaldson (6-0, 205) and junior Courtland Harris (5-5, 162).
“Courtland Harris had a great offseason, and he’s worked extremely hard,” said Vance. “That’s an area where we have a lot of competition.”
It’s the same at wide receiver for the Tigers, a lot of talent, not much experience.
“We don’t any returning starters out there,” said Vance. “We’ve got some kids who haven’t played a lot. We’re going to let them battle it out and see who comes out on top.”
Senior Josh Jones is the only wideout returning who played significant snaps last season, catching four passes for 32 yards and a touchdown. Hattiesburg does have senior Rhyen Brisco, a newcomer who totaled nearly 1,400 all-purpose yards last season at North Forrest.
On the offensive line, the Tigers have one returning starter in senior tackle Jaylin Williams (6-2, 265), but they have several other seniors returning who played a lot, notably Parris Smith (5-9, 267) and Joe Jackson (5-7, 280).
On defense, Hattiesburg will build around its linebackers, returning junior Tomacio Robinson (5-11, 233) and seniors Cedric McGill (5-11, 208) and Anthony Bullock (6-0, 176), who will also slide over and play some at strong safety.
The secondary will also include junior Jaquez Andrews (5-11, 200) at a cornerback.
“We’ve got those guys back who played a lot for us last year,” said Vance. “But other than that, it’s all new.”
Making things even harder, Region 4-5A is notably stronger, with Pascagoula and East Central replacing West Harrison and Stone. And the Tigers have added Jefferson Davis County to their already demanding non-region schedule of Petal, Laurel and Oak Grove.
“I look, top to bottom, I think every team has a chance,” said Vance. “Picayune has always been a quality opponent the four years we’ve been in this region, and we expect East Central to be a carbon copy of Picayune.”
I spite of all the new faces, Vance is high on his team coming into Saturday’s season opener at Petal.
“I like this team,” said Vance. “We’ll be young, and we’ll be inexperienced. But we’re still Hattiesburg, and we expect the kids to rep the Tigers well. They know what the expectations are, and we’re not going to lower the bar just because we lost a bunch of seniors.”
