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NATCHEZ — The Natchez High School Bulldogs will have their hands full this Friday night when they travel to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to take on the Gautier High School Gators in the first round of the 2024 MHSAA Class 5A South State Playoffs.

Kickoff between Region 3-5A No. 4 seed Natchez High (6-5) and Region 4-5A champion and No. 1 seed Gautier (9-1) is scheduled for 7 p.m. Both teams played their regular-season finales last Thursday night. The Bulldogs fell at home on Senior Night to Brookhaven High School 36-20 while the Gators rolled past Laurel High School at home 42-6.

And while Monday was the Veterans Day holiday, Bulldogs head coach Steve Davis said that did not have any affect on team’s practice routine.

“We practiced Monday. We came out with our same routine on Mondays,” Davis said. But with rain and thunderstorms forecast for Wednesday, whether Natchez High will get to practice outside will be determined.

Davis said the Bulldogs’ defense will have to contain the Gators’ passing game led by senior quarterback Paul Irving. And that’s one of the things the Bulldogs are focusing on in practice this week.

“For us, it’s getting lined up. Getting ready for their passing game. Their quarterback, Paul Irving, he was named Class 5A Player of the Year. Getting prepared for him and some of the things he can do with the football will be very important to us defensively,” Davis said. “Defensively, they have two good linebackers we have to prepare for.”

Davis said that for the third week in a row, Natchez High is just focusing on itself and not so much the competition.

“Making sure we’re taking care of us going into Friday with the game plan of being focused. Working on finally getting that fast start we definitely need,” Davis said.

But that could be difficult against a Gators team that Davis said likes to throw the ball a lot on offense and runs a defense that they Bulldogs are not used to seeing.

“They’ll run it some. But they’re 70 to 30 pass to run. Versus us, we’re expecting more zone. We expect to see a 3-5-3 defense to try to slow down Ashton Minor and Ken Chatman. Which we hope with that defense, we can get Carl McDonald more loose in the run game,” Davis said. “But the plan for us stays the same. We want to go tempo. We feel like with our receiving corps, we have an edge there.

“They run a spread offense. They don’t do a whole lot. They’re just really good at what they do. Double sets with two receivers to the side. You’ll get trips and empty.”

When asked who will need to step up for Natchez High to spring off the upset and advance to the second round, Davis, said, “For us, offensively Kaden Walton. He’s going to have a lot riding with him Friday night. Making the right reads. Getting us out of certain calls and into the right sets and into the right calls. His understanding of the game plan will have to be the best it’s been all year. Defensively, we’re going to put a lot of pressure on Kyrin Johnson and Kameron Morgan in the secondary to make sure we are actually fine in their passing game. They have to make the right checks. They have to make the right calls.”