Merlin

WJ has an almost uncoverable wr group. Even missing 2 starting o line, the starting, rb, the backup rb, the starting qb was not supposed to play but the sophmore backup qb was hurt on the first drive and forced him in, the starting lb/de 3rd rb did not play, a corner was pushed to rb duties, backup de on field, backup corner on field, west still could have won. Overall it’s a state title worthy offense. But they also have a “Speedbump Team” that is there to issue a “we hope you slow down” recommendations for the opposing offenses. They are incapable of covering wr’s, rb’s, qb’s or even their own beds. I can not remember WJ having such a sad group going back to the early 90’s. If this offense was only as good as last years offense this team would win 1 game (northeast jones). With that said. Petal has been fortunate to this point and it will come crashing down before long.

Petal going to win 49-45 WJ has 2 losses in school history when their offense scores 40 or more. Both this year.

West 4th and 14 on petal 49 west punting.

West forces turnover on downs on their 36. 5:42 left

Petal 56 yard td. 49-45 petal.

Now petal picks off west at midfield.

Officials siding petal down the field saying complete catch then waving off holding flag. But receiver dropped ball as he landed it was rolling on ground. Petal scored 2 plays later. 45-42 WJ 10:01 remaining. officials waived off flag saying it did not affect the play.

Td west 2 plays into the 4th. 45-35 west

Petal big play to WJ 1 TD petal. 38-35 WJ 38 seconds in 3rd

Petal has no answer for west WR’s right now west moving fast inside petal 20 in 5 plays. 2:15 left in third WJ timeout. WJ to 1. On run looks like west got in or very close they blow whistle petal kid runs out with the ball then spikes it throws tantrum gets flags. Then bad snap on west next play rb drops it but recovers back on 11. TD pass WJ. 38-28 west jones 1:03 left in 3rd

Petal 43 yard td on 4th and 4. 31-28 west leads. 3:54 in 3rd.

2nd half starts with west getting another interception on WJ 47 on opening drive of 2nd half. Turns it into a fieldgoal for 10 point lead 31-21 WJ

West gets a pick around their 45 returns just to petals side of 50. About a minute and half to half. West drives for td. To take 28-21 lead 16 seconds till half.

West with 82 yard td run to answer. 21-21 that was little 5’7 sophmore corner for west who is having to play rb and he might be fastest person on the field.

65 yard petal td run. 21-14 petal

Petal scored to go up 14-7. On kickoff a kid from petal throws 6-7 punches on a west player he threw down at mid field other players within 20 yards officials not looking. Eventually they hit petal for unsportsmanlike but do not eject the kid. West drives for td to tie it 14-14

West Jones and Petal tied at 7 end of 1. WJ took opening drive 80 yards with backup qb, and a corner playing rb cause 1st not playing and 2nd off team this week. after petal punt pinned west inside 5 west went 3 and out had punt to 38 gave petal short field. After that it’s been all 3-5 play drives then punts. west 2nd drive the didn’t have a qb dominated starter Tootie Lindsey playing but not sure how much he will. West down 3-4 starters on offense and just as many on defense and rotating a bunch.

Heard pontotoc qb likely tore acl last night.

It would not get cancelled over injuries. If it got cancelled it would be due to the weather.

DE went down the south jones game sprained ankle. O lineman down against SJ he I think had a chance to play. LB down against north pike had a chance to play. QB (shoulder stinger non throwing arm) mid 4th q vs Wayne county did not go back in on 2 subsequent drives but wanted to. RB came up limping 2nd q vs Wayne and did play a handful of plays very sparingly with heavily wrapped ankle. Both of them bring out is more of a let them heal for district play thing. There are some others nursing various things. Backup rb may be off team. WJ will have upwards of 8 sophomores and 3-4 freshmen on the field.

WH and Petal may not happen. And WJ coaches would be fine with that. If it does happen WJ will be without 4 starters for sure. Anther 3 that may play a little but may not play at all. They will basically be treating it as a scrimmage. WJ qb, starting rb, right guard, starting de, and a lb are all out.

PRC officials taking a play out of Lafayette County playbook?

The pockets being lines IS about the main reason to do it. That is a lot of payroll the state could cut out forcing consolidations. If the casino tax money that was supposed to help fund education actually went towards education we wouldn’t be in such a money bind.

Isn’t Rankin also 1 district for entire county? I know at one point there was talk of Jones County School District absorbing Laurel cause all but 1 Laurel school was failing hard. JCSD was all “hell naw” they wanted no part of it.

South panola built their dynasty on running it down teams throats and daring them to stop it. No one really could for years. They ran that same offense from elementary, jr high, then high school if memory serves. West Point the same thing for the last 20 years. Picayune the same. Typically that style offense benefits big strong lines but honestly just needs execution with blocking. The only spread offense team to build a dynasty arguably is oak grove. And they have not been as consistent as the power running dynasties have been. So I would freak out over a down year like it’s bout to be the norm. Most likely it won’t be. Even if you have 2-3 years of being “down”. Heck I hate the air raid type offense that throws to open the run. That’s for teams with weak o line in my opinion. I would love to have seen west jones running a picayune or West Point type offense from 2021 through 2025.