Kosciusko will open the MHSAA 4A playoffs at Senatobia Friday, the result of a 28-0 loss to Louisville that left the Whippets third in Region 4-4A.
Senatobia was second in 3-4A with a 3-1 record. The Warriors defeated Greenwood, Gentry and Yazoo City before ending the regular season with a 20-7 loss to Clarksdale in the game that decided the region title.
“They’re a good football team,” said Kosciusko coach Casey Orr. “They’re 7-3 just like us. There are a lot of similarities between the two teams. I think we’re evenly matched on both sides of the ball.”
Senatobia was 4A state runnerup last year, losing to Columbia 22-21 in the championship game. “It’s a group that knows how to win. They played for a state championship,” Orr said. “They graduated some of those guys, but the ones that are there, they build on something like that.”
He said Senatobia is strongest on defense. “But they have some guys on the offensive side who can hurt you. Their quarterback (sophomore Jay Bonner) is an athletic kid who throws well and runs the ball well. He’s a guy we will have to contain along with their running back (sophomore Julien Tabor). He has explosive moments so we will have to be fundamentally sound.”
Kosciusko and Senatobia had one common opponent. Winona defeated both, Senatobia 47-28 in a scrimmage August 19 and Kosciusko 20-7 two weeks later.
The Louisville game was closer than the final score would suggest — 7-0 into the fourth quarter.
“You see the score and people wonder why you feel that way, but I think it was one of our better performances,” Orr said. “Our kids played really hard. They just ran out of gas. Louisville was running a lot of people on and off the field. Toward the end, we finally got tired.”
Kosciusko never reached the red zone and finished with only 21 yards of offense. “There were three or four plays that could have gone either way. They made them and we didn’t. That’s just the game of football.”
It was the fifth shutout of the season for Louisville, which finished the regular season 9-1, the only blemish by one point to 6A Starkville. In winning the region with a 5-0 record, the Wildcats outscored the opponents 200-33 with no game closer than 40-15 against second place West Lauderdale.
Defensive end Reggie Carter had a monster game for the Whippets with eight tackles, six for losses and four sacks. Linebacker Javen Mallett was credited with nine tackles, including two sacks, linebacker Thomas Olive had six tackles, four for losses with one sack, and Lee Wade had two interceptions and three tackles.
Louisville will open the playoffs at home against Greenwood, the fourth pace team in 3-4A. West Laurderdale will have a home game with Gentry and Choctaw Central, fourth in 4-4A, will be on the road against Clarksdale.
If Kosciusko defeats Senatobia, the Whippets will host a second-round game against the winner of Itawamba AHS and Pontotoc. Itawamba, the 1-4A champion, is 10-0.
Orr expects to have a strong following of supporters at Senatobia. It’s a 116 miles drive from Kosciusko — north on Highway 35 to Vaiden, then north on I-55 all the way to Senatobia.
“In a school bus, the fewer turns the better,” Orr said.
