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NATCHEZ — The Natchez High School Bulldogs will look to bounce back from a tough loss to South Jones High School when they travel to Florence to take on the Florence High School Eagles this Friday night in a pivotal MHSAA Region 3-5A game for both teams.

Natchez High (5-3, 1-1) is coming off a tough road loss to South Jones 29-14 in which the offense did not get on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs fell into a tie for third place with Florence in region play after the Eagles (4-4, 1-1) defeated North Pike High School 22-9 last Friday night.

Kickoff between the Bulldogs and the Eagles is scheduled for 7 p.m. This is the second of three straight Region 3-5A road games for the Bulldogs, who will also be looking to avenge last year’s 35-20 home loss to the Eagles. After last week’s loss at South Jones, Natchez High head coach Steve Davis decided to change up the practice routine.

“Practice has been pretty good this week. It was better (Tuesday) than it’s been in a while. We had to change up our plan and how we do things to do more teaching. That’s helped us out greatly,” Davis said. “We have spent more time group work fixing thins that have hurt us the last three to four weeks. (Tuesday) I was pleased with how the kids came out. They came out flying. We communicated better. I think they understand the game plan better than they have the previous weeks.

“That was the thing that trouble me – trying to play faster, to understand more. We’re changing up the practice routine, changing up the focus. I hope that translates to us playing better Friday night.”

As for what specifically the Bulldogs are working on in practice this week to get ready for Florence, Davis said, “Offensively, after we broke down film over the weekend, it was simple mistakes. Nine or ten guys doing right and one or two guys not doing right. Mental errors. False steps. Just the little things. You would think eight games in you would not have those issues but we do. Fixing those things that stalled drives. Defensively, lining up right. We did not line up right against South Jones that was the biggest thing, We were not lined up right to formations. For us, being in the right position is key. Tackling. We put a lot of stress on tackling better this week.”

Natchez High’s defense will have its hands full against a Florence offense that Davis said is similar to what the Bulldogs saw the previous two weeks against region opponents North Pike and South Jones.

“Their speed and their schemes to the edge with their running backs and wingbacks. No. 0, Brian Davis, he’s the coach’s son. He’s a shifty, fast guy. He makes plays. We cannot give him the edge Friday night. He can fly and make things happen, No. 2 Cortland Battee, he’s another athlete on their team who can be dangerous on both sides of the ball. They make plays on both sides of the ball. Looking at the edge, they like to run a lot of jet sweeps and misdirections. Defensively, we have to contain those two guys and be stout in the middle. Last year, they ran it up the middle and we couldn’t stop them. Hopefully, we can look like the team this week that can stop them.”

Another player on Florence’s offense that the Bulldogs will need to contain is No. 5, senior running back Kaden Rockingham.

And while NHS coach Steve Davis said that the Eagles’ defense is not as big in the middle as it was last year, he noted that Bryan Davis, the son of Florence head coach Rod Davis, and Battee could also be a problem on that side of the ball. He added that the Eagles run a 3-4, cover-2 defense.

“They make plays on both sides of the ball. Their linebackers, they flow well with the play. We have to control that 3-front that they have and let (senior running back) Carl McDonald do what he does,” Steve Davis said.

As for what kind of offense the Eagles run, Davis said, “They’re a heavy kind of old-school wing-T with spread. They have a lot of wing sets. They also got three backs, stack-I. They want to use the tight end wing to get things going. It’s similar to the wing-T shotgun.”

Davis said that the Bulldogs will need McDonald to have a big game offensively Friday night adding, “We’re going to ride Carl on offense. We’ll go as he goes on offense. He’s our guy who gets us going. I think we will get him going Friday night.”

Defensively, Davis said that Jeremiah Tillery, Patrick Banks, Kyrin Johnson, and Norman Harrison will need to step up and have a big game for the Bulldogs to pick up a huge road win in Region 3-5A Friday night.