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NATCHEZ — After having to deal with one of the toughest weeks in his young tenure as head football coach at Natchez High School, Steve Davis is excited to get back to having a full week of practice this week.

And they MHSAA Class 5A and undefeated Bulldogs will indeed need it as they will take on the Class 7A and surprisingly-winless Ocean Springs High School Greyhounds this Friday at 7 p.m. at Tom F. Williams Memorial Stadium.

Natchez High had to rely on defense and special teams to escape with a 14-6 win at Class 6A Vicksburg High School — the second time this season the Bulldogs defeated a 6A team on the road — to improve to 3-0 overall. Meanwhile, Ocean Springs lost a heartbreaker at home to Northwest Rankin High School 29-28 in overtime to drop to 0-3 overall.

As for what the Bulldogs will be working on in practice this week,” Davis said, “Ocean Springs is a very large team. We’ll work on our tempo offensively. Making sure our pass game and our run concepts are on point. Defensively, we’ll be working on tackling. They have some guys who are shifty. They have some guys who are big. Our run fits will have to be perfect Friday night. And we’ll have to be physical. Very, very physical.”

And Davis added that he expects the players to have more energy in practice this week than they did last week after he had to deal with some off-the-field issues as well as Hurricane Francine.

“I think we’ll come back offensively and we’ll have more energy and we’ll have the tempo back. Last week was so challenging because he had just one day of practice because of the hurricane and other things,” Davis said. “Being able to practice every day this week, we can get our feet solid again. We can work on our temp and get back to the things we’re doing.”

Despite their record and being a younger team than they were a year ago when they went 9-2 overall, there are plenty of challenges that the Greyhounds present both offensively and defensively.

“Last year, they were big. They were more senior-led. This year, watching film, their size and their speed is what impresses me. They run a lot of different formations on offense. Recognizing what they do offensively for our defense, that’s going to be key. As of now (Monday morning), I’m seeing eight to 10 formations that they like to run,” Davis said. “Offensively, we’ve have to block much better than we did against Vicksburg. We have to block better in the run game. We have to give Kaden (Walton) more time to throw the ball. We gave up four or five sacks last Friday night.”

Another thing the Bulldogs’ defense will have to be mindful of is which quarterback head coach Jake Bramlett will have in the game between junior Sharroid Whitehead and senior Chequin White and what style of offense will be run.

“They have a quarterback, No. 2 (Whitehead), he’s probably their best athlete. When No. 17 (White) comes in, he becomes more of a passing quarterback and they like to go more into a spread system. We have to know when they’re spread and when they’re in their heavy set,” Davis said.

Going into last year’s game at Ocean Springs, they Greyhounds were 2-1, which included a 49-6 win over LHSAA Class 5A Scotlandville High School in Week 2. This year, they scheduled another MHSAA Class 7A team in Oak Grove High School and lost to the Warriors on the road 35-21. Meanwhile the Bulldogs were 0-3 and coming off a tough double-overtime loss at home to Vicksburg.

Now it seems like the tables have turned with the Greyhounds still searching for their first win of the season while the Bulldogs will look to remain undefeated. That being said, Ocean Springs has lost to three very good teams and there is one advantage that Davis feels his Bulldogs do have an advantage of the Greyhounds.

“The teams they lost to, they lost to Madison Central, Oak Grove, and Northwest Rankin. Where have an advantage is our receivers versus their secondary. We have to win in the passing game. They run a 3-4 cover-3 or a 3-4 three quarters. That means they have four-deep to stop the big plays,” Davis said.

Which means that Walton to have to be patient and be able to pass the football efficiently to get them out of that look,” Davis noted.

Of all the different formations that Davis said he’s seen on film on the Greyounds, when asked which one they run the most, he said, “They like to run what I call heavy twins, with two tight ends, two running backs, and one wideout because they are so big. They try to out-flank you or try to have a plus-one advantage in the running game. That means they have one more to block than you have on defense.”

As for who will need to have a big game this Friday night for the Bulldogs to beat yet another team from a higher classification and stay undefeated, Davis said, “Offensively, Kaden Walton for sure. He has to have a big game throwing to the receivers we have. Not to put any added pressure, throwing the ball which is something he does very well, he and his receivers have to be on the same page all night.

“Defensively, for us to be successful, Dajuan Culbert, Kameron Morgan, Charzell Woodfork, and Kyrin Johnson, the secondary guys for us have to be disciplined in the run game and the pass game.”