A one-sided victory is meant to be a humbling experience for the side beaten to a pulp, not the winning team.
That, however, isn’t the case this week for the North Pike Jaguars.
After their season-opening 50-15 rout of the host Richland Rangers Friday night, the Jaguars came away with a feeling that they could have done so much better.
The Jaguars built a 50-8 halftime lead, but did not score in the second half against the Rangers.
Part of that, according to head coach Chris Smith, had to do with the Jaguars’ many substitutions after intermission. The other problem, he added, were the numerous errors his team made.
“We had a lot of blown assignments on both offense and defense,” Smith said. “The effort was there. We just made a lot of mistakes.”
Smith blamed the errors on it being the first game of the season. He added that the miscues have been addressed.
“We watched the film and showed them the mistakes they made,” he said. “The thing is, they made mistakes they weren’t making last year.”
The Jaguars began last week ranked second in the state’s Class 4A rankings. They enter Friday night’s home game against Bay St. Louis significantly lower, ranked eighth.
Kickoff is slated for 7:30.
“We saw the rankings last week and we let it go to our heads,” Smith said. “After last week, we came back down to Earth. We’re not good enough to say, ‘We’re North Pike and we’re going to win the game.’ ”
The Jags’ defense was led by junior linebacker A.J. Jefferson, who collected seven solo tackles and four assists. He also caused a fumble and registered four tackles for a loss.
North Pike senior quarterback Revis Butler was 6-of-10 passing for 145 yards and three touchdowns.
Butler connected with receiver Jemerick Jordan on touchdown passes of 37 and 26 yards, and hit Tonnie Collins on another 37-yard scoring toss. The senior signal-caller also rushed four times for a team-best 56 yards.
The Bay Tigers come into Friday’s game off a 21-10 loss to Vancleave — a game in which the Tigers’ defense recovered four Vancleave fumbles.
Smith said he was especially impressed with the Tigers’ size up front on both offense and defense. Bay High School’s defensive line features defensive tackles Jordan Southerland (6-5, 265) and Aaron Bourgeois (6-4, 275) and nose guard Phalen Booker (5-10, 230).
Look for quarterback Braxton Lafontaine to lead Bay’s multiple offense. The Tigers, according to Smith, mostly operate from the ‘I’ or Spread.
