Merlin

I think the petal thing was because of the Scott Pierson and Marcus Boyles connection. Notice it hadn’t happened since he had retired. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it again with the Boyles/Reynolds connection after next season. Also wouldn’t be too surprised to see Wj and OG schedule each other with the connection between Reynolds and causey in the future.

Exactly. 3 other schools in the county at 6, 9, and like 11 miles away. Plus the rivalry with Wayne county forged since 2003 and there’s 4 out of district games.

I’m pretty sure Jones County schools pay more than East jasper. Add on the fact that it’s carters Alma mater, and the new head principle was his friend and team mate on nej sports teams in early 90’s. I seriously doubt he would have no interest or say no to the offer if it’s made. Unless he knew the rumor that’s been going around for more than a year that Milner would be the next man up regardless. Despite then fan base wanting Carter. There are a few people with their hands in deep who are in charge of the decisions over there and it would take a massive pitching from school admin all the way to the district offices/school board to have made a difference. Big time good ole boys club going on over there. Same stuff that almost happened with the Wj coaching search last year only the one guy didn’t have as much pull as he thought at the school and school board.

They aren’t the only one. It’s about to happen at Taylorsville and I think Laurel may not be as far from collapse as some think.

Except a bunch of the kids. They leaving.

It will have to be this year because if anyone wants to beat west jones it needs to be this year. The next 2 years after they gonna be scary.

I know there have been be a number of teachers from Taylorsville applying for every open teaching position in jones county. Especially ones that have kids at Taylorsville who will be enrolling the kids in jones county schools if they get the jobs.

If they can get out of the good ole boy system they got going over there and hire a good coach they can be a threat in 4A south. They have the talent.

Why would they be so stupid as to close Taylorsville and send them to mize? Best way if consolidation was to happen would be to build new school between the two that could handle the larger student population and allow for future growth.

When you can’t win titles got to have something nice to brag about I guess.

You havnt been to any of them to know yourself. Many schools have revamped and modernized facilities since petal built theirs and most visited petal before finalizing their plans. So how exactly is petal nicer?

WJ did not shut down anything. The Jones County School district would have to have done that. But to do that they would also have to have stopped the ones living in southwest jones county with seminary zip code from going to seminary. And some in ovette going to petal and some to Perry central via runnelstown. And ones in areas of Sharon and shady grove with stringer zip code going to stringer. And vice versa, kids within a distance of the county line on some roads but in other counties can come to jones county schools. None of that has been stopped at all.

I had heard a number of kids from taylorsville were trying to get enrolled at west jones. Hell I bet 1/5th to 1/4th the student enrollment there live in Jones County and should be at west jones anyway. Also heard some are leaving bay springs for stringer.

Like I said. Petal is south jones with money. Both have baseball state title while being real good for a decade in the past. Both had a decade they were real respected in football and made a trip to state. Both have always had top notch bands. otherwise meh.

Consistently sucking up until about 20 years ago. And other than 2-3 years in mid 2000’s when y’all had Dylan Farris at qb they didn’t start winning regularly till 2011.

WJ fans said for most of the 90’s that as soon as Mike Taylor left they would be a threat. One year with a bunch of area coaches and media together I think at jcjc when Taylor was asked how he saw west doing he commented that west would struggle and didn’t have as much talent as others, Marcus boules who was still at taylorsville spoke up and said “yes you do but you don’t know how to use it”. After Taylor retired and Scott Pierson comes in and goes 11-1 his first year (and really should have won that 1 loss) a bunch of people knew they would win state in 3-4 years. Then Wayne county dropped from 5A to 4A. Took us 17 seasons to get to state. In that time we had 4 undefeated regular seasons and 5 trips to south state. Twice considered top 3 team in the state. 19 years to win state. So I for sure feel you on sour taste with the way some seasons end To be totally honest, every fan I know of that’s not a Hattiesburg fan, and half the ones that are HHS fans that I work with, knew that the instant west jones knocked y’all out of the playoffs in 18 that Tony Vance could not win state at HHS.

That was a sudden change. wonder why Jones College refuses to recruit kids from jones county. That coach there is an idiot and needs to go. I honestly had thought Boyles would end up there a year or two after retiring from Petal the first time.

About what?

Petal is South Jones with a lot more money.

LB Race Jones to ole miss as preferred walk on. Another one or two were being talked to by msu, auburn, and most sunbelt schools but don’t yet have the act scores.

What happen?

For West Jones, having a big interior d line isn’t all that new. WJ prioritizes putting biggest kids on d line. They have had really good to great defensive lines most of the last 22 years. Their issue typically is either average or below offensive line (typically 220-240 pounds per kid). Or turnovers. Or, due to the prior scheme, average at best qb. Years they had better than average qb they tend to be top 2 district and 2/3rd round of plsyoffs. Should have been in state at least 3 more times than have been and maybe as many as 5 but killed themselves with turnovers or got beat by a team that was physically bigger. That’s not currently the case however. And they will not have any lack of size the next 3-4 years either.

There is talent at WC still. However, not overall as much all over the field as there was even 7 years ago. Not to mention 2001-2010.

Im thinking the smell from the lagoons in Hattiesburg.

Picayune going to Picayune so I don’t see a real need to mention them. They will win their districts and make it to second round of playoffs by default. I just feel like they lost enough they might kinda be a little down the next year or two. I just think Hattiesburg returns enough starters on both sides and that experience “should” have them a top 2 in south 6A at least this next season. But Hattiesburg could pull a Hattiesburg and get bounced in round 1. Don’t bet on them of they have to play Pascagoula. West Jones returns all on offense but 2 and a half starting O line. I say “and a half” because the third didn’t start every game this year. One was a starter for 2 years the other started o line just this past season after being a defense player the year prior. WJ has 6 more kids that got a lot of playing time this past year on o line to fill those spots. So the Offense should be better. The defense is a bit of a question mark but I hear the coaches only worried about the d line. But that’s compared to the last 2 years d lines. They got some big kids that would give them size but weight room will tell if they got the rest of tools needed for it. If they can piece together a defense equal to any they had from 2019-2021 then they should be the favorites out of the south if not to repeat.