Merlin

That makes me think of another question. Did the MS Braces leave due to stadium mismanagement or poor attendance or what? I heard both. I would say that if they can’t get a new tenant for it relatively quickly then tear it down and build on the site. But is there enough parking there?

I am curious as to if MS wouldn’t finally work out a deal to hand over the veterans memorial land to UMMC, and try to build an outdoor arena/stadium over near bass pro that would hold 24-30k. Let JSU use it. High school state champ games. Junior college bowl game and possibly the juco state champ game. Monster truck shows. Stuff like that.

I’m just saying now that WJ will likely be better in 25 and 26 than this season. Absolutely loaded 9th and 10th grade classes.

I would t be surprised if ole miss didn’t want it any more either after how bad the field was tore up last year. Also the paint they used ruined some uniforms.

Depends on if Lamar County builds the new high school they are talking about. Would take kids from Sumrall and Oak Grove.

I actually just found last years game with y’all vs Pascagoula on YouTube and watched it. That o line was of y’all’s got manhandled. It was one thing for west to do it. I saw yall and laurel game it happened there. But to see goula also do it shows a theme. Y’all and Laurel are too similar. Big o line with 1 superstar that is worth the hype, but the rest are either too slow to block fast d linemen or getting pushed all over the place.

Not just qb play but also defense. Have they really stopped anyone that had a pulse on offense from scoring 20+ since Vance been there? They are like laurel, must out score teams.

I don’t think anyone not born into one can turn into one. Too disgusting.

I “fat fingered” the “9-12” should be “9-11”. With a small class of 130 and about 150 average that’s right close to the cutoff with around 500 depending on where numbers actually fall. But yes they are bleeding kids. To Wayne Academy and Quitman mostly. Some maybe at northeast jones and Greene county.

Hearing Wayne County opened up with quite a bit less numbers than expected. Last graduating class over 180 students. Current 9-12 grade about 150 per class one had 130. Wayne County may be in contention to drop to 4A for at least a couple years.

Coaching

I honestly think if they loose more than 4 and don’t win state or lord forbid do not make it there that they will implode from the inside. If earnest gets tired of the fans and such in his face and leaves I would about bet the next head coach will not be as good as him and you will see them go down the path Wayne county has the last 3 years.

Yes, and no. Laurel just out athletes anyone currently in 5A south. Since they joined 5A in 2013 who regularly beat them? The answer is West Jones, Picayune, Hattiesburg and Wayne County. 3 now in 6A and WC is fumbling about. Brookhaven has knocked them off a few times in the past but they havnt been the same since Tucker Peavy left them back after 2011. They are due for one of their once every 10 year teams however.

Laurel didn’t bring back as much as they would have you think. They did bring back a great WR. They were 2 deep with 6 foot 1+ 260 pounders for the offensive line. So even though they lost most of the starters, they won’t lose any size. They did bring vs k the best o lineman. But other than him they were just big last year, not exactly blowing d lines off the line. Kinda soft actually. Lost their qb and rb. However they will have you believe the 9th grade transfer from south jones is a d1 kid. On defense they bring vs k the lb’s, the d line like the o line, they had so many big kids you will not notice a difference in size but they were also not as strong as their size would have you believe. Their 6 losses last year were not for no reason. They were fortunate to beat stone county. Actually a lot of people already forgot they were 4-6 going into the last week of the season and a bunch of them were calling for their coaches head. If they get a lead by half they will get some swagger. But if they are getting punched in the face they tend to fall apart as the game goes on. I actually think they will drop 4-5 this year.

West has had a “better than average” to “great” defenses since 2002. They had 2 I would consider “average for the classification”, which was 2015-2016 and the offense was horrid those years. I don’t recall any year they lost more than 7 starters on that side of the ball in that time frame except after 2010, when they lost 21 starters total. They still finished 8-4 in 2011. So while it is unknown how the defense will do, there is precedent and hope they can be an “average 6A defense” which could be all they need this year from what I’m hearing about the offense from practice.

Given you guys track record of early season QB injuries I can understand if any Hattiesburg fan has that point of view. Some schools/coaches think soft schedule early lets the team work out some kinks and build confidence in what they are doing is the way. Some think they must beat the best early to prepare for the playoffs. Sometimes, traditionally powerful programs that a team has long history with just have a decade of sucking and makes the schedule look weak. 15-20 years ago no one would call wests first 4 games last year/this year weak. Actually go back that far then the weakest team they play currently would be poplarville, followed by I think Hattiesburg.

Yep. Especially now with the new funding formula. Part of the reason why Laurel is trying to annex areas that traditionally feed west jones. Get more students into school system for funding plus add tax base cause Laurel population dropping.

That play happened right after west fumbled the punt. Fumbled punts were an issue for west last year. One led directly to Grenada’s only 3 points of champ game. Another had terry in prime scoring position that would have won them the regular season match against west.

You are correct, West lost all but 1 defensive starter to graduation. But returns almost the entire offense. You are also correct that last years game did come down to 2 plays. West Jones dropping a punt that JP recovered that led to 3 points. Official behind qb not throwing a flag on a jp o lineman who tackled a wj d lineman from behind as he was going to sack qb and then punching him in the ribs. Qb throws 60+ yard pass to set up Jp’s second 3 points. Video of this was sent in, along with several other bad no calls by this guy, and that official was suspended a couple weeks and longer allowed to officiate Wj games going forward. There is a history with this official and Wj (he was barred from any Wj games a few years back for very obvious blatant missed or bad calls. And even bragged on social media about it. New coach gave him chance and his first Wj game this happens). Anyway, those were only 2 times Jp crossed the 50. That game not as close as score indicated. hopefully wests new defense starting to come together by the time this one rolls around.

As a west jones fan this is actually the game that has me most concerned this year. West will be pumped and focused going into the Laurel and Hattiesburg games. More at stake. In county rivals, bragging rights, district title. But JP it like, just a team on the schedule. Easy to sort of lose some mojo going into it.

Y’all do have an entire district slate of cupcakes every year to get your young guys some playing time and to rest and heal your starters before the playoffs.

West Point not being top 6, but laurel is, is a big joke. Not sure Madison central deserves top 5, let alone number 3.

I know this. I can’t help it west shares a county with those two and they both happen to really suck right now. But with the way the jones county school district does revenue sharing from tickets sold for all home games for all 3 (a portion of tickets sold goes to district which then redistributes it evenly amongst the 3) and the fact any combo of 2 of them could have a zero win season and average 500 fans then host the other school and boom it’s 6,000+, and they are less than 9 miles from each other. Then it’s a given every year they are Gona be on each others schedule. Also can’t help it that Wayne County has returned to its mid-90’s form. However I would not be surprised to see Petal and perhaps Oak Grove pop up on wests non -district slate in place of prep and poplarville after this year.

Exactly why I wish west opened up their seasons with south jones and northeast jones in no particular order.

West Jones defense will start out struggling. If they put it together by playoff time I think they only have to hold opponents to less than 24 because I don’t think anyone is slowing down that offense. I don’t like they get Laurel who’s looking for revenge week 1. Wish we started with South Jones and NEJ to let us work out the kinks. Laurel, Jackson Prep and Hattiesburg may be the only 3 to really challenge west in regular season.