After their second loss of the season at Franklin County last week, North Pike will be on its home field at Southwest Mississippi Community College against Wilkinson County at 7 p.m. Friday.
North Pike head coach Chris Smith said the Jaguars must make key plays Friday night if they expect to get back on track.
“We’ve got to stop turning the ball over and we’ve got to quit making little mistakes — blocking assignments, defensive assignments,” he said. “We’ve got to do the little things in order to be a good football team.”
A win against the Wildcats would bring the 1-2 Jaguars back to a .500 record and end the team’s two-game skid.
“You always want to win with football games,” Smith said. “It’s important. It’s a home game. We’re back at home. I thought the guys played well at the first home game. They’re ready to be back at home.”
Smith said his team is more comfortable at home, where it won the season opener against Purvis 46-34.
“Our first ball game we didn’t have a single turnover and we were successful,” he said. “Our last two ballgames we’ve had some turnovers and we weren’t successful. When you’re playing good football teams, you can’t give them second chances. And when you get those chances to score, you can’t pass those up.”
He said there were times when North Pike got within 20 yards of the end zone during the last game and missed a scoring opportunity.
“When you get in that red zone, you’ve got to put up points,” he said.
Smith said quarterback Tez Fountain and the offensive line need to have a good night for the Jaguars to beat Wilkinson County.
North Pike won 70-54 at Wilkinson County last season.
Linebacker Mark Smith is out with a knee injury, and Coach Smith said someone needs to step up and play that position successfully.
Tailback and linebacker Bryceon Magee will be returning this week from an injury.
The coach said Wilkinson County does several things well.
“They throw the football well,” he said. “The quarterback does a good job scrambling around, keeping the play alive and making big throws. They’ve got a couple of good receivers, so I think we’ll have to focus first on their passing game.”
