Seth Avants has more rushing touchdowns than some teams do halfway through the season, but he doesn’t know how many that is, or how many he would like to have.
He scored five touchdowns against Stringer last week on Bogue Chitto’s way to improving to 6-0 on the season. The Bobcats will have a District 4-1A showdown Friday with fellow undefeated and state-ranked No. 1 Puckett.
Last week’s performance earned Avants the Enterprise-Journal Player of the Week, but it will be this Friday’s game against Puckett that will determine how the rest of the season will shape up.
If the Bobcats can knock off Puckett, who eliminated Bogue Chitto in last year’s playoffs, then Avants will look to hold on to the No. 1 seed for the rest of the regular season. If not, then the Bobcats will be chasing the No. 2 seed along with Mt. Olive, who lost to Puckett 24-21 two weeks ago.
“We’re presenting it as a challenge,” Bogue Chitto head coach Gareth Sartin said. “To go out and get a win will be difficult and we’ll see how we stack up with (Puckett).”
It may be the game Avants has been preparing for the past three years when he was learning and running the Bobcat offense. As much as five touchdowns against Puckett would mean, Avants doesn’t want a high-scoring ballgame unless it’s one-sided for the Bobcats.
“I’d rather it be 14-7 or something like that,” Avants said. “If it’s high scoring, the offense is doing its job, but if it’s low scoring then the defense is doing its job.”
Avants believes the defense holding Puckett will mean more than anything he can do or however many times he can reach the end zone.
“We need to keep the ball and keep them off the field,” he said.
Bogue Chitto chewing up the clock is one of the best parts of being the quarterback, Avants said. Long drives not only affect the defense, it gives their own defense a rest and keeps the other team scoreless. In essence, a long drive controls both teams, not just the one on Avants’ line of scrimmage.
“It’s fun getting to control the tempo of the game and make everybody play to us,” Avants said.
By now, Avants had logged so much time under center that he has simplified his role on the field down to “I just run the ball wherever the hole is.” With that amount of difficulty, anyone can do it and he readily admits that, especially with the offensive line the Bobcats field.
“Just about anybody can run it with the holes I’m getting,” Avants said.
As simple as it may seem, Avants does a lot on the field.
“He understands the whole offense,” Sartin said. “He knows what everybody is supposed to do and any adjustments he needs to make. He reads a lot of things at the line of scrimmage and changes some plays on his own.
“He can do that kind of stuff.”
OTHER TOP PERFORMERS
John Taylor, South Pike, 14 carries for 98 yards in the Eagles win
Anthony Cain, Amite County, 18 carries for 130 yards and 56-yard touchdown run
Revis Butler, North Pike, 14 carries for 98 yards and 6-of-12 passing for 52 yards
Tarasmine Young, Tylertown, three rushing touchdowns and 153 yards to go with a 70-yard kick return
