When you are an MHSAA Class 1A football team looking to schedule games it’s not easy. When you are a good one, it’s nearly impossible.
When Noxapater head coach Casey Orr had a larger Mississippi school unexpectedly back out of a spot on the Tigers 2019 and 2020 schedules, the veteran coach was forced to look elsewhere. That search led to Noxapater heading across the state line on Friday night to visit Butler, Ala. to take on the Tigers of Choctaw County High School.
“We really don’t know much about them,” Orr said. “They have a new coach and we don’t have any current film on them. We know they are athletic and they run pretty well.”
Orr said the difference in Friday’s 7 p.m. season opener will likely be simple. “We are going to have to be the most physical team,” he said.
While Orr wasn’t pleased with everything he saw out of his team in Saturday’s 28-20 Jamboree win over East Union played at East Mississippi Community College, he said the physicality was there.
“We owned the line of scrimmage and ended up rushing for 305 yards in a half,” he said. “That’s pretty good.”
He said the hot temperatures associated with an August afternoon game played on turf certainly took its toll on his Tigers. “I thought we were in a little better shape than we showed on Saturday,” he said. “We need to find some role players who can give us 10 or play plays a game. Part of what we did Saturday was trying to find that out.
“I thought there were some bright spots and some things that needed to be improved upon,” Orr said. “All I can say is that we came out healthy on on top (of the score), so that’s two positives.”
