After dropping post-season games in front of their home fans the past two seasons, McComb’s football team will have another chance to win a playoff game at home when Mendenhall comes to town for a first-round matchup Friday with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
The McComb Tigers (6-4, 4-1) finished in second place in Region 6-4A and have several seniors in key positions including quarterback Venchenza McCray, wide receiver Gerkithis McCray, wide receiver Jarquis Thornton, wingback Ali Henson, nose guard Lucky Davis, cornerback Piere Jones, center Ulyses Brown and linebackers Dorian Coney and Nick Harris.
“I think we’ve just got to get over this psychological hump,” McComb head coach Jeffery Gibson said. “One of the things that we’ve let them know as a coaching staff is, ‘Yeah, it’s in the playoffs, but it’s just another football game.’ We just continue to prepare like we prepare all year, go out and play the game, not build it up. It’s just the next game up.”
McComb lost to Poplarville in the first round of the playoffs last season 21-20 and had four touchdowns called back on penalties during the game. McComb lost to Forrest County Agricultural High School 28-7 in the first round of the playoffs in 2014.
Gibson said he does not expect to have to emphasize taking things one game at a time after the first round.
“It would mean a lot (to win a playoff game),” he said. “Those guys, they haven’t won playoff games since they’ve been here. That’s one of the big things that they really want to do is win a playoff game and move through the playoffs.”
McComb faced all of its regular season opponents in 2015, but the Mendenhall Tigers (6-5, 3-2) are a new challenge.|
“The thing about it is we have film,” Gibson said. “No matter who it is, there’s only so much they can do offensively and so much they can do defensively, so it’s the same approach. Even though they’re not in our district, we take the same approach — just taking what they give us, basically.”
Between looking at film and stats, Gibson said he would put together the best game plan possible.
“They definitely like to run the football,” Gibson said. “They have a pretty good receiver, No. 2, (junior Zykeil Woodard). Defensively, they like to play man-to-man. We haven’t seen a lot of man-to-man. That works to our benefit. That’s fine with me. We have things that work better man-to-man than things that work better versus zones.”
McComb won the regular-season finale at Richland 42-6 and jumped out to a 34-0 lead with 7:54 remaining in the first half. Gibson played reserves for the majority of the second half and he hopes for something similar this week.
“It’s important for us to get off to a real quick start and force them to do something that they don’t like, which is passing the ball,” Gibson said.
Injuries, turnovers and penalties plagued McComb during a 1-3 start to the season. The McComb Tigers were able to get healthy during their bye week prior to district play and have cut down on the turnovers. However, penalties continue to be an issue.
“We just continue to emphasize how important every possession is, every snap is, continue working the drills to help us improve and continue to be a disciplined team,” Gibson said. “That way, we won’t make the small mistakes like that.”
The winner between McComb and Mendenhall will face the winner between St. Stanislaus and Greene County Friday night in the second round.
