MMS bowls for perfection

The Marianna Middle School Bullpups can lock up their third undefeated season in four years with a win Thursday night over Jefferson County at 6 p.m.

The Bullpups head to Monticello to take on a Jefferson County squad they’ve already beaten once this season.

With a win, MMS will be the champion of the Big Bend Conference, and will finish the season 8-0 for the first time in school history.

“We’ve got a chance to do something I don’t believe MMS has ever done, and that’s win eight games in a year,” Bullpups coach Hunter Nolen said
Tuesday. “It’s great that we’re in this conference with a chance to play for something. We can really cap off a great season if we get a win.”

MMS took a 28-12 road victory over Jefferson County in the Bullpups’ season-opener.

It was the second game of the year for Jefferson County, which started the year 0-2 before winning five straight.

“We had a couple of turnovers, some sloppy penalties,” Nolen said of his team’s opening performance. “I think that we have progressed and gotten better as the weeks have gone on, but I also think Jefferson has gotten better.”

A quarterback change may have sparked the Tigers’ run of success, with the team moving away from a pro-style running team to a shotgun spread-offense team.

“Their new quarterback is a scrambler who can throw out of the shotgun. He’s very agile, and he moves around as a QB,” Nolen said.

“A lot of other teams we have played have been really big and just pounded us up the middle, but they’re going to spread you out and use their team speed to beat you.”

Nolen called Jefferson County the fastest team the Bullpups have played all year.

According to the coach, it’s also a much better team than the one MMS faced Sept. 10.

That’s a point Nolen has tried to hammer home to his players.

“I’m trying to talk to the guys and tell them that this is a totally different team than we played the first time,” the coach said. “We’ve gotten better, but they’ve
gotten better as well.”

Nolen used a common opponent — Wakulla — to demonstrate to his team it was in for a challenge on Thursday.

The Bullpups defeated Wakulla 28-8 Oct. 15 in Marianna — but Jefferson County defeated that same team 38-8.

“When (the MMS players) first found out they were playing Jefferson, they were all laughing and smiling,” Nolen said. “But (Jefferson’s win over Wakulla) got their focus back a little bit.

“Now they’ve gotten more focused. We had one of our best days of practice all season on Monday.”

It has been a banner season for the Bullpups, who have been dominant in 2009, beating every team on the schedule by 16 or more points.

A loss in the last game of the season would be a devastating way to end such a season, Nolen said.

“I told them the other day in practice that guys have worked hard all year long, I would hate to see us slip up right here at the end and have a blemish,” the coach said.

The Bullpups are 34-1 over the past four seasons.
—
The game can be heard live on the radio at 94.1 FM, and can also be heard on the Internet at http://www.wtys.cc.