SHS hopes to solve road woes

The Sneads Pirates can take a big step towards a playoff berth with a win Friday night over the South Walton Seahawks in Santa Rosa Beach.

The Pirates (4-2, 4-1 in district play) can claim sole possession of second place with a win over South Walton (6-1, 5-1).

First-place Freeport (5-0 in league play) travels to Bozeman Friday night to take on the Bucks.
“
This is a big game because we still control our own destiny,” Sneads coach Don Dowling said of Friday night’s game. “If we win this one, we’re right where we want to be.”

After having already lost to Freeport, Sneads would have to get help to get back in the race for a district title.

However, the Pirates need only finish second in the standings to make their first playoff appearance under their fourth-year coach.

To get there, the Pirates will need to do something they haven’t done this season — win on the road.

Sneads lost 27-7 to Blountstown and 34-17 to Freeport in its lone road games this season.

Dowling said his team must find a way to break the trend.

“In the past, we haven’t traveled very well,” he said. “We talked a lot about this week that we have to play well on the road if we’re going to get a shot in the playoffs.

“I don’t know why we’ve struggled on the road. If I could’ve figured out that, we would’ve changed things a long time ago.”

This year, the losses could be attributed to simply playing high-quality competition.

Freeport and Blountstown each have suffered just one loss this season, Freeport to 4A Milton and BHS to 3A Marianna.

The road won’t be much easier for the Pirates against a Seahawks squad that has held five of its seven opponents to 12 or fewer points.

Dowling said that South Walton was just as formidable on the offensive side of the ball, with a powerful Wing-T attack led by a big offensive line and senior fullback Bryant Adams.

“They’re big,” Dowling said of the Seahawks. “Of course,  everybody we play is big compared to us.

“(Adams) is their main ground-gainer. When they get in trouble, they feed it to him. They’ve got a good quarterback and some good skill guys, and they’re big across both fronts.”

It’s a stiff challenge for the Sneads defense, but that group is coming off of perhaps its most-impressive performance of the season in last week’s shutout win
over Vernon.

The Yellowjackets scored 20 or more points in five of their first six games before playing Sneads, but the Pirates held them to just 136 yards of offense and no points.

“The kids made plays, and they were where they were supposed to be at the right time. When they got there, they made something happen,” Dowling said of his defensive players.

“It also helped that we kept the ball for most of the game. That plays right into the way we want to do it. We don’t want any mistakes, just speed the game up and keep that clock running.”

Dowling said it has been a lively week for his team, which was well out of contention at this time last season.

“We’re excited about what’s going on,” the coach said. “We’re just having fun right now. The kids are bouncing around. That’s most of (winning) anyway. If they’re excited and believe in what they’re doing, they’ve got a good chance.”

It would also help if the Pirates got another big game from their workhorse, senior running back Mark Lawson, as well as quarterback Terrence Green and running backs Jeff Davis and Jamar White.

“We need big games out of all of them,” Dowling said. “Those are the folks who have been leading us pretty much all year. This is probably the biggest game of the year, so you’d like to have Mark and Jeff get 200 yards combined.”

After a slow start, the SHS rushing attack has kicked into high gear in recent weeks due largely to improved play by an offensive line that struggled early in the season.

“The offensive line is coming around,” Dowling said. “They’ve shown marked improvement over the last couple months. They’re opening holes, so we’re able to control the ball and control the clock.”