#HSFT21 – Stop #23 Nettleton Tigers

NETTLETON, Miss. (WCBI) –The Tigers’ 2020 season ended with a loss to North Panola in the playoffs. 10 seniors graduated- three on offense and seven on defense. Despite the turnover, the Tigers feel they’re in a prime position to not skip a beat.

“Feel like we have the potential to be competitive and build on what we did last season,” head coach John Keith said.

“It’s been good this year because we’ve been together as a team and we’ve been able to grind it out,” senior RB Roderick Patterson said. “It’s way better than last year since we could only have so many people in the weight room because of COVID. This year it has been great for us.”

“We’ve come together a lot as a team,” left guard/defensive lineman Drew Humble said. “We’ve seen who will go the extra nine yards for us and I think it will be a great season.”

One of the positions they need to replace is their quarterback. Right now it’s a battle between Cade Oswalt and former Olive Branch QB Ty Walton. The job is for the taking.

“We’re gonna let them compete and see who comes out on top,” Keith said. “They’ve competed well in 7-on-7 and they both have strengths we can build around. Once we get it settled the other one will be playing somewhere else on the field most likely.”

This season, the Tigers will be moving from 3A Region 1 to 3A Region 4.

“We could be a better team with a worse record because our non-division and division schedules are much tougher,” Keith said. “Not sure how our wins/losses will correlate but we have a chance to be a good football team. We just need guys to step up, fill holes and push themselves to that next level.”

Nettleton opens its season August 27th against Eupora at 7 o’clock.