McComb, a District 4A school, could be facing its toughest competition of the season, according to head coach Jeffery Gibson, when it hosts 6A Harrison Central at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Tigers (1-0) are coming off of a 63-42 win in the season opener at home against Columbia last week. McComb overcame a 12-0 deficit to win 20-12 at Harrison Central last season.
“I definitely want to avoid that,” Gibson said about getting behind against the Red Rebels Friday night. “You don’t want to get behind on a team like this. In this game it came down to the wire. The defense saved us last year getting five turnovers. Three of those turnovers were on the 1-yard-line. They were going on.”
The Tigers head coach said he expected both teams to implement the option offense and mix the run and pass with a little more rushing. He specifically said Harrison Central’s quarterback brings experience as a senior and returning starter.
“I tell you that they’re physical,” Gibson said. “They’re definitely big, well coached, and to beat a team like this we definitely have to limit our mistakes. We have to make sure we clean up a lot of mistakes from last week like alignment. We had some alignment issues and some assignment issues on defense and paying attention to detail. Just things like that we have to make sure that we fix and continue to take what they give us.
“To beat a good team like this would definitely be a great confidence booster. Also, it’s just helping to propel us into district play.”
Senior Venchenza McCray, who had three passing and two rushing touchdowns last week, is the quarterback, while receivers include seniors Ali Henson, Gerkithis McCray, Quandarrius Lofton Jarquis Thornton and junior Gary Butler.
Senior center Ulyses Brown leads an offensive line with four seniors and one junior, while four-year starter senior nose guard Lucky Davis brings the most experience to the defensive line.
The one question mark going into last week was junior running back Vincent Jones in his first start, but he answered the call with two touchdowns.
“Early he was a little nervous but as he got settled in he kind of answered a couple questions if he could handle the workload and all the checks and things of that nature,” Gibson said. “I’m looking to him and the running game continuing to get better each week.”
While several Tigers went out of the game with cramps last week, Gibson said none of them will be sidelined Friday, adding he expects them to be in better condition after more practice. He also said the Tigers made mistakes early last week, but they did a better job of putting drives together later.
“I think missing out on the jamboree (Aug. 12) definitely kind of hurt us on getting out the little kinks and getting back into a rhythm or groove,” he said. “We started to pick up momentum as the game went on. We started to take what they were giving us and also limited mistakes, but we were able to put drives together.”
The head coach encouraged fans to attend Friday’s game.
“I always to make sure the community comes out, supports, has fun and enjoys McComb Tiger football,” Gibson said.
