FAYETTE — With the Jefferson County Tigers sitting at 0-2, coach James Herrington hopes his team plays Friday’s game against Crystal Springs with a little bit more enthusiasm and passion than they did last week.

The Tigers jumped out to a 12-0 first-quarter lead over Port Gibson last Friday, but watched the Blue Waves score 24 unanswered points in a 24-12 loss.

The loss ended Jefferson County’s six-year winning streak against their rivals to the north.

“(Port Gibson) just wanted it more than we did,” Herrington said. “I take my hat off to them. We got off to a quick 12-0 start, but we were stagnant and flat from there. Sometimes you have a game and you don’t have any explanations for the way you played. I wish I could put my finger on it, but I can’t. Sometimes you just have games like that.”

Herrington said he wants to see improvement this week, especially on offense, but isn’t resorting to panicking by any means.

“We’re not going to shake up everything and chance the scheme and personnel,” Herrington said. “We want to make sure we win the battle up front (with the offensive line), which is one of the things we didn’t do last week, and try to take care of the football.”

Like Jefferson County, Crystal Springs is looking for its first win of the season.

The Tigers lost their opening game to Lanier 21-14 before falling last week to Hinds AHS by a 26-7 score.

Herrington said Crystal Springs plays a five-man front, and likes to plug up the middle.

So the Tigers plan to spread the field and let their athletic running backs try to get around the corner.

“They concentrate up the middle very much on defense. They don’t want you to run the ball up the middle,” Herrington said. “We’re going to try to spread them out and see how they react to our spread formations. We’ll see if we can get some mismatches there and work on some people in space.”