Perryville hopes to slow down Whitney

Jackson's Mario Whitney rushed for only 63 yards last year against Perryville.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, the Indians attacked through the air as then-senior Ray Goodson had 120 yards on three catches.

Considering Jackson has completed only five passes in two games, it's reasonable to think that Perryville coach Lance Bell may take the same approach this year, despite falling to the Indians 37-3 last year.

Jackson (2-0) will travel to Perryville (0-2) for a 7:30 kickoff tonight.

"I thought coach Bell had a good scheme coming into the game last year," Gross said. "He put 10 on the line, but put a corner on the island man-to-man with Ray. The quarterback got the ball to him and we were able to take advantage. I'm sure they'll try to do something similar this year.

"We want to run it, but we're prepared to throw it."

Bell didn't tip his hand as to how he would defend Jackson this year, but he did say Whitney is "a different runner this year. He runs hard, putting his head down. He wasn't doing that in the past."

Bell said he thought Gross' move to use Whitney -- who has rushed for 233 yards and seven touchdowns in two games -- as a part-time quarterback in the shotgun formation was a smart one.

"He's getting the ball into his athletes' hands and he's just letting Whitney be an athlete," Bell said.

Special teams important

Both coaches talked about field position being a key to tonight's game.

In both of Jackson's wins -- including 42-0 over Sumner last week -- the Indians used excellent field position to roll over their opponents.

Sometimes, the Indians would force turnovers deep in the opponent's territory. But usually, the prime field position was the end result of special teams.

"James Simmons is the best punter to come around here in a long time," Gross said. "When you've got a good punter, you know you're going to pin people deep. And when we get the ball near midfield, you can use your whole playbook. When you start inside the 20, the playbook is cut in half."

Said Bell, "Their special teams are so solid. They blocked a couple of our kicks last year and they might even be better this year. And they play the field position game very well. Their opponent almost never gets on their side of the field and they're always starting inside their opponent's 40."

Identity crisis

No one knows for sure how good or bad Perryville is.

The Pirates appeared to make huge strides from their 1-9 season when they played Waynesville to 20-14 in their opener after being blown out by Waynesville the year before. But Perryville took a huge step backward last week, losing to Ste. Genevieve 34-0.

"They looked like a completely different football team when they played Waynesville," Gross said. "Waynesville is a good football team with a lot of size and good speed."

Gross said it appeared that Ste. Genevieve wore down the Pirates in the second half, but the Indians aren't taking the same approach.

"No," said Gross, "the approach we're taking is to take the game to them early."