photo by Marcus Frazier

Huntington's Jeremy Randall slides in under a pass Oct. 3 in the Hounds' 36-20 win over Riverdale Academy. Hunting faces Tallulah Academy today.

Tallulah could trip up Hounds

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Friday, October 10, 2008

FERRIDAY — Huntington fans might think that next week’s showdown with Glenbrook will be for the MPSA District 6-A championship, but Hounds coach Chad Harkins knows if his team can’t get by Tallulah this week, next week’s game won’t mean much.

“We’re taking it a game at a time,” Harkins said. “We’ve still got to win this game if we want to be in position to play for a district championship. The players know the importance of this game.”

The importance of the game is magnified because both Huntington and Glenbrook have 4-0 records in district play.

Glenbrook should get a win against a poor Franklin Academy team tonight, which means Huntington needs a victory against a Tallulah team that is 3-2 in the district to match the Apaches and set up a game next week for the district championship.

One thing that Harkins wanted to correct this week in practice was the fact that the Hounds gave up 20 fourth-quarter points to Riverdale last week after jumping out to a 36-0 lead.

Harkins impressed upon his team the importance of playing a full 48-minute game.

“We talked about going out and playing as hard as we can each play,” Harkins said. “We have to do our best, no matter what the score is. We’ll correct that and do better the next few weeks.”

While Riverdale was a passing team, Harkins said Tallulah’s offensive strength is running the ball, which has caused the Hounds to adjust their practice routine this week.

“We’ve worked a lot more with inside guys this week,” Harkins said. “Last week we worked with the secondary guys and pass coverage.”

However, Harkins is glad that Tallulah likes to run the ball, because Huntington’s defense is adept at stopping the run.

“They play into what our strength is,” Harkins said. “We’ve got some good linemen and linebackers, and our strong point is stopping the run. We’d rather play a team that runs the ball than a team that throws it all over the place.”