Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Natchez High School head football coach Steve Davis made it clear that the Bulldogs will need to do two things Friday night when they travel to Vicksburg to take on the Vicksburg High School Gators — run the ball and stop the run.

Kickoff between MHSAA Class 5A Natchez High (2-0) and Class 6A Vicksburg High (0-2) is slated for 7 p.m. The Bulldogs are coming off an exciting 52-50 triple-overtime win at home over Class 4A McComb High School while the Gators fell on the road to Forest Hill High School 28-23.

Last year when these two teams faced each other at Tom F. Williams Memorial Stadium on the Natchez High campus, Vicksburg escaped with a 38-32 win in double overtime. Davis said that for the Bulldogs to come away victorious and turn the tables on the Gators, they will have to have to win this game in the trenches. He added that his team will be practicing on Thursday.

“The weather should be fine for us to get in our last practice Thursday to get in our final preparations. Offensively, we’ve been focusing on cleaning up some things. We had two or three red-zone opportunities (against McComb) in which we left points on the field. Shoring up our blocking up front. We were making sure we were very good in the run game,” Davis said.

Davis then said that the Bulldogs’ defense must slow down a Gators offense that relies heavily on the run game.

“They like to run the ball 70 percent of the time. We’re making sure our run fits are very good. Special teams-wise, we’re shoring up some things. Blocking better. Staying in our lanes. We gave up some yards and we gave up an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown,” Davis noted.

Davis added that practice this week hasn’t been as normal as he would like for it to be.

“Practice has been a task this week. We’ve had so much stuff that’s happened off the field that we’ve had to deal with. We’ve been trying to deal with some off-the-field issues that’s affected our practice,” Davis said.

For Natchez High to come away victorious, the Bulldogs’ offense cannot turn the ball over and they must take advantage of their red-zone opportunities and finish those drives with touchdowns and their defense has to stop the running game.

“We feel like right now, we’ve scored 110 points, but we haven’t clicked on offense. We’re running tempo, but we’re not as fast as we could be,” Davis said. “We feel like we can get out of there with a win.”

As for what kind of offense and defense the Bulldogs expects to see from the Gators, Davis said, “They run a spread, tight-end, wing offense. Kind of a wing-T offense. A lot of shifts, a lot of motions to give them an advantage and to make you line up wrong defensively. They run a 4-2-5 defense. They’re not going to play us man. They’re going to run some zone. Sometimes, they may go into a 3-front. But they’re run a 4-front to try to slow down our run game.”

Davis added, “They’re a big team. Looking at them on film, they’ve got a lot of size. But I don’t see any kind of physicality from them. I hope we can bring the fight to them up front and wear them down.”

If Natchez High is to prevail Friday night and stay undefeated, Davis said both the offensive and defensive line will have to step up and have a big game.

“Offensively, the five lineman up front, led by Jayden Hutchins, our center, Jayden Smith, Camerron Thomas, Terrence Logan, and Avery Fleming. Defensively, the defensive line is going to have to match the offensive line they have, led by Jakel Irving, Patrick Banks, Zachary Shell, and Greg Washington.”