HS football, Game of the Week (Petal vs. Hattiesburg)
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - High School football starts Thursday and there is one game in particular that's catching a lot of people's attention.
The first high school game of the week is Petal vs. Hattiesburg.
Petal head coach, Marcus Boyles said, "Tony Vance has done a remarkable job. Probably has the best team he's had since he's been over there by far."
Hattiesburg head coach, Tony Vance said, "This senior class is definitely a special senior class. They were freshmen when I got here. Now they're going to be seniors. So we expect those guys to lead every way."
Petal loss the 6A State Championship last year to Starkville and that game has been in the back of their heads ever since.
Petal running back, Stephon Huderson said, "We get to show what we worked on all summer. We get to let it all loose. We just seen how far we can get with good coaching because we didn't have that much talent last year. And we got a lot returning this year."
But, Petal was not the only team that had a long off-season.
Hattiesburg Quarterback, Julian Conner said, "I just can't wait until Saturday gets here man. I'm coming out here every day of the week getting better for them."
"I'm feeling good. I'm feeling great. The way we worked during the summer and the spring, I feel that we're going to have a fantastic season this year,” said Hattiesburg wide receiver, Jordan Murphy.
The Panthers are trying to making sure the Tigers have a slow start to their season.
Petal cornerback, Detric Carter said, "They got a lot of people on Hattiesburg's team that's going D-1. We ain't got that many people that signed. We're going to show them what we're really made of on Saturday."
The wide receiver and cornerback match-up should be interesting.
"I'm going to ball either way it go. I'm a play them like I play against everybody else. I'm a do them the same way," said Murphy.
"They like talking and I'm just going to show them like who's really what's up," said Carter.
"When I come out Saturday night, the only thing that's going to be pumping my blood is Petal Panthers. That's it," said Conner.
The game will begin on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Hattiesburg High School.
