Things won’t get any easier for McComb on Friday following an emotional win last week over Brookhaven.
The Tigers make the long trek to Wayne County for their toughest test of the season in a 7 p.m. district matchup.
Both Wayne County and McComb bring unblemished 2-0 district records into the contest, although the War Eagles carry a boatload of talent the Tigers’ (5-0) likely haven’t seen since the 2011 5A playoffs against Picayune.
Wayne County might as well be a 6A team. They rotate several offensive and defensive players, while some of McComb’s players are forced to play both ways.
The Eagles’ depth has posed issues for McComb coach Malcolm Jones.
“They are going to have the depth and that’s definitely something that’s going to be a concern,” said Jones, who is 0-3 against Wayne County. “You look at last year and the first half, we were able to play them tough but second half we fell apart.”
Jones doesn’t really have an answer to combat the depth issues. All he can hope for is mistake-free ball and keep his defense off the field for extended periods of time.
“I can go out there and try and conserve clock and run clock but … that’s really not what we do best right now at this moment,” he said. “Putting the ball in the air is what we do best.”
Junior quarterback Alex Woodall has flourished this season with Jones’ eagerness to throw the football. McComb ran the ball more than 85 percent of the time with workhorse back Deonte Evans, but turned to a more spread passing attack with the growth of Woodall.
Woodall’s statistics aren’t exactly eye-opening but he continues to make plays when called upon and his running ability out of the zone-read has kept defenses honest.
Meanwhile, Wayne County hasn’t received much press of late and isn’t even ranked in The Associated Press’ Mississippi 5A Prep Poll, but it’s more of an aberration. The Eagles’ two early season losses came to Petal and Meridian, two of the top teams in the state.
The Eagles boast a dynamic quarterback of their own in junior Jarvis Chambers, who has thrown for 704 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 354 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Chambers was the back-up last season and helped Wayne County blow out McComb, 49-14, after an injury to its starting quarterback.
“He’s a pretty tough athlete. He’s pretty elusive,” Jones said. “If we can get a handle on him and not allow him to run and throw the football, I think we got a better chance”
McComb had some trouble with mobile quarterbacks early in the season against Terry but shut down Stone County’s spread offense two weeks ago.
The Tigers will counter with pressure and blitzes, something Jones isn’t shy about.
“We are going to do what we do best, and that’s go after people,” he said. “Not sit back and allow them to dictate. We are going to try and dictate the tempo and the situations.”
