Porter’s Chapel Academy football coach Blake Purvis gave a short, simple answer for the reason behind his team’s excellent defensive performance last week against Prentiss Christian.

“We tackled,” he said.

Tackling is certainly an important part of football, and after giving up 132 points in their first two games it was also something the Eagles had struggled with. They held Prentiss Christian to only one touchdown in a 22-8 victory, however, giving hope that they won’t need to rely entirely on their offense to win high-scoring shootouts every week.

“We placed a large emphasis on it the last two weeks and saw some improvement (against Delta Academy). But really, Friday night, we saw a huge improvement,” Purvis said. “The defensive line was playing in the opposing team’s backfield. We were making tackles for loss and winning the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football.”

Purvis added that some of the improvement came from young players finally getting comfortable in new roles. Linebackers Henry Slayton, Conley Johnston and Hunter Simms, and defensive back Jase Jung were the only returning starters on defense. The rest of the lineup includes nearly a half-dozen freshmen and sophomores rotating in and out.

“Guys are settling into roles. We’ve found where some guys fit. Which we knew coming into this, with a lot of new guys on the field was going to be an issue. We’re finding where people are getting more comfortable in their roles and getting more reps,” Purvis said. “You just hope the improvement continues because a lot of our issues the first two weeks was just a lack of reps with a lot of new guys on the field.”

PCA gave up a lot of points in losing those first two games, but also scored a lot — 106, to be exact. Running back Jase Jung has already surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season and scored 14 touchdowns.

“If we get our defense playing to the level of efficiency that our offense did in the first two weeks, I think we’re right there in the conversation,” Purvis said.

Matching the potent offense with even a modestly competent defense should help the Eagles get on track after back-to-back losses to start the season. They’ll play Riverdale (1-2) on the road this Friday night, and there is only one team left on the schedule that doesn’t already have a loss.

The PCA-Riverdale game in 2023 was a double-overtime thriller that PCA won 26-18. Although it wasn’t a district game, beating one of the best teams in MAIS Class 1A sent a message that PCA could be a contender.

With both teams entering with 1-2 records this time, it’s not quite the marquee showdown it was last year. The stakes are no lower, though, just for different reasons.

“It’s just as important of a game for us this year as it was last year,” Purvis said. “We started the season two games back. We’ve got to make up for lost time. We’ve got to reel some wins off and get our power point average up so we can get in a favorable spot in the playoffs.”

FRIDAY’S AREA GAMES
All games start at 7 p.m.
Porter’s Chapel at Riverdale (Radio: 104.5 FM)
Pearl at Warren Central (Radio: 105.5 FM)
St. Aloysius at East Rankin (Radio: 101.3 FM)
Vicksburg at Forest Hill (Radio: 107.7 FM)
Briarfield Academy at Tallulah Academy
Port Gibson at Jim Hill