After fighting their way to an impressive 7-3 record in the regular season, Yazoo City’s Indians saw their roll come to an end on Friday night when they were soundly defeated 41-6 by Pontotoc.
The loss gave the Indians a 7-4 final record.
According to Yazoo City head coach Rodney Adams, it was worst-case scenario.
The Indians played their worst game of the season by far when they needed their best.
“We just played horrible,” Adams said. “It was one of the worst games we’ve ever played as a team. If we had played our best game, it wouldn’t have turned out that way. It was a hard loss. I don’t know if we were nervous or what. We didn’t play like we had all year.”
Making it worse was the fact that a few players were out due to disciplinary issues.
“We had some guys not even travel with us based on discipline stuff,” Adams said. “As a coach, you can’t let kids do what they want to do. That played a part in it, but if we played like we prepared, things would have been better. We just kind of went blank. It was hard. I was disappointed and shocked. There was one play where the running back would’ve walked into the end zone because the hole was so big. That’s tough as a coach. They had never done that.”
The game between Pontotoc and Yazoo City High School was a defensive battle from the beginning.
Yazoo City threw an early game interceptions, but their defense cleaned up the mess with a turnover on downs just a little bit later.
By the time the whistle blew to close the quarter, the two teams were
With 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter, Pontotoc rushed the ball in to finally break the tie, giving them a 6-0 lead.
The Warriors had found the key to defeating Yazoo City’s defense.
“We were doing well against them early, but they found the weak link on our defense,” Adams said. “They started running the counter and power plays. Our linebackers weren’t filling gaps. It was as simple as that.”
The Indians will be losing 11 players to graduation, including their senior quarterback.
They’ll also be diving headfirst in a difficult new schedule.
Still, Adams believes his team can fill the holes admirably enough to fight their way back into the playoffs for the third straight year, particularly since some guys he has been grooming for a couple of years now will finally step into the spotlight.
“It was a learning experience,” Adams said. “Our quarterback was a senior. Kory Price did well for us. Our goal now is to get a freshman or sophomore quarterback. We’re losing 11 seniors from this team. We won’t be behind as far as depth, but we have some key positions where we need to work at. I think we’ll make the playoffs next year, but there are some positions of concern. We have some guys coming back and some guys we’re counting on to go for us next year. I still think we’ll be competitive. Our schedule will be tougher because we added Louisville and Canton, so we’ll definitely have to put in a lot of work into the weight room. I’m looking forward to this season because these are the kids who have been under me for the last two to three years.”
