North Pike’s final non-district matchup of the 2016 football season will be its homecoming game at 7 p.m. Friday when it takes on Oak Forest from Amite, La., at Southwest Mississippi Community College.
After a three-game losing streak, North Pike (2-3) won at Columbia 26-7 last week.
“We’ll play as good as we did last week,” North Pike head coach Chris Smith said. “(We’ll) come out with intensity, come out and play from the start, and play four quarters. Hopefully they’ve figured that out and it’ll carry over. It’s always easier to practice and get ready for a game after a big win.”
As far as he can remember, Smith says this match up marks the first game North Pike has played against a private school during the regular season.
This is the Jaguars’ sixth non-district game, and they will not have a bye week during the regular season.
“We tried the week off thing last year, and I thought it really busted our season up,” Smith said. “We had a good time on offense, we were playing well on defense, and that week off just killed us. I felt like it did us more harm than it did good. The opportunity came up with Oak Forest and it happened to fit right in that open date so it worked out well.”
Smith doesn’t believe that North Pike playing a private school football team will have any particular benefit, other than the fact that it is another chance to play a good football team.
“Every game that these young guys get under their belts is an improvement, so we look forward to the challenge,” he said.
Even though he doesn’t see much of a difference between playing a private school team and a public school team, this is still the first time the Jaguars will play the Yellowjackets. In order to prepare for a team they’ve never played before, Smith says that they try to do well on offense and defense like they would anyway.
He mentioned that with the convenience of the Hudl, a film-trading service, it’s easy to get film so that one team can watch and study their opponents.
“You don’t have to get on the road and ride around to try to find film,” he said. “You just basically punch a button and you’ve got what you’re looking for.”
Smith said that it is important to win homecoming and he final district game while going into district 3-3 with a two game winning streak.
“Like we talked about with the kids two weeks ago, we need to get on a roll, get some momentum going in the district, and the homecoming thing — that’s for people besides football teams as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
He wants to make sure that his players’ aren’t distracted by the common practices and customs of the homecoming season, and that they are focused on the game.
“I don’t think there are too many coaches who like homecoming because of all the distractions,” Smith said.
Three defensive starters could be out for Friday’s game.
Senior Mark Smith is out for the year after experiencing an MCL tear. Despite not being able to play, he will continue to be a leader and support his team from the sidelines.
Another player, Austin McCullough is questionable for Friday night after an injury. Daniel Clark was out during the last game from dehydration, making him questionable for the upcoming game as well. Coach Smith said his team will have to be more balanced on offense than they were last week.
“Last week with the conditions of the field and the things that Columbia gave us, we were just able to run the football,” he said. “I feel like we’re going to have to be balanced a little more and throw the football some more. We’ll have good field conditions and be able to take advantage of some of our receivers and get them the football.”
Coach Smith said the players who will be replacing those missing on defense need to have a good night as well as the rest of the defensive and interior lines.
Smith also added that Oak Forest is strong offensively and that defensively, moves the ball well and play good scheme.
