In a jamboree contest there will always be some good things and bad things. Ethel had those as the Tigers fell to Winona Christian 18-6 in a two-quarter jamboree this past Friday night.
The Tigers open the season on Friday night at home against West Lowndes.
“Anyone could tell we were very vanilla on offense and scripted our plays,” said Ethel coach Dave McCrory. “We ran one defense and worked on our base alignment.”
The jamboree was set up with one team running its offense for 12 minutes (an entire quarter) and the other running defense for the entire 12 minutes.
The Stars were able to capitalize on opportunities.
“We would have liked to have had a little more success on offense and defense but hats off to Winona Christian they played well,” McCrory said. “That’s a good program with a hall of fame coach leading them.”
Now this week is where it really matters.
Last season Ethel beat West Lowndes 38-12 on Oct. 26 when the Panthers were in Region 3-1A.
West Lowndes will lean heavily on promising standout wide receiver and safety Jherquaveus Sanders, who holds several NCAA Division I offers.
He moves around on offense whether it is at quarterback, running back or receiver.
“They motion him around to create matchup problems,” McCrory said. “Our game plan is to put one of our better players on him and follow him around wherever he goes.”
Offensively, the Tigers will lean heavily on the run and play action pass.
“They run man to man defense almost every play, so we will motion and try to get someone uncovered or try to outnumber them and run the ball that way to the side where we outman them.”
Reeves Threadgill and Domingues Clark will split time at quarterback for Ethel this week.
McCrory has a message for the Ethel fan base. “I want to say keep coming out and supporting our team, we had a great atmosphere last week for jamboree,” he said.
