Top-ranked Durant ready for round two

Sports

November 18, 2009

By Austin Bishop

If Durant head football coach Ashley Kuhn has his way his Tigers will have a 12th man when they play host to Okolona in the second round of the MHSAA Class 1A Playoffs on Friday night.

While the 12th man will never hit the field, the second-year Durant head coach said it could make a difference in the outcome of the game.

"I'm really hoping we can have a big crowd on Friday night," he said. "There aren't as many games going on and we are encouraging everyone who will to come out and support us on Friday night. Our goal is to make it to Jackson, but each week from here on out is going to be tough."

The Tigers reached the second round of the playoffs by rolling to a 38-13 win over Falkner in a game that featured a running clock for most of the second half.

"We let them score just before the half on the last play, but we scored the first two times we had the ball in the third quarter to take care of business," Kuhn said.

Junior running back Cortez Frizell rushed for 190 yards on 15 carries and scored five touchdowns to push the Tigers, ranked No. 1 in Class 1A by the Mississippi Prep Sports Source and the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, to 11-1 on the season.

Okolona, 9-3 and ranked No. 8 in the state, rolled past Greenville St. Joseph 64-21 to reach the second round.

"That score right there got a lot of folks attention," said Kuhn. "Obviously for them to beat a good team like that they have to have a good football team. It's a major concern for us right now.”

Last Friday the Tigers jumped out to a 20-0 lead thanks to touchdowns runs of 18, 7 and 12 yards by Frizell.

After Falkner cut it to 20-7 at the half, Frizell added a pair of 6-yard touchdown runs in the second half to help Durant take control of the game. The last Durant score came on a 69-yard run by David Hogsett who finished the night with 113 rushing yards on just nine carries.

Joffie Hogsett hit on 6-of-9 passes for 76 yards and ran for 35 more.