The first three games of the season have been a mixed bag of good and bad for the Vicksburg Gators.

The offense moves the ball well, but struggles to score. The defense keeps opponents in check but gives up big scoring plays in key spots. Penalties on both sides of the ball have hurt the overall effort.

There’s a lot to be encouraged about and plenty of things to clean up following an 0-3 start. The good thing is there is still time to do it before the start of region play in a few weeks. The process continues Friday against Terry (3-0).

“Watching the film, I’ve picked up on the stuff we need to work on and the stuff we’re good at, and meshed it all together. Sometimes maybe it’s a personnel issue that we’re bad at, or football stuff like blocking, tackling, running to the football,” VHS coach Christopher Lacey said. “We’re playing real good on defense. We’re putting people in long down-and-distance situations. We just have to mesh the other stuff together.”

The Gators’ most glaring struggles in the first three games have been on offense. They’ve only scored three touchdowns and 35 points so far, despite averaging 200 rushing yards per game.

Lacey said small mistakes, such as ill-timed penalties, have been devastating. Two touchdowns were negated by penalties in a 28-23 loss to Forest Hill. In a 14-6 loss to Natchez last week, another TD was wiped out by an illegal formation penalty.

“At the end of the day, offense is still going to come down to winning the line of scrimmage and execution, and we’re not executing in the moments we’re supposed to,” Lacey said. “When it’s third-and-2 and we’re not getting the first down, that’s not good because it means we’re not winning the line of scrimmage. And then we’re putting ourselves in longer second- and third-downs that we don’t want to be in.”

On defense, those same small mistakes have led to game-changing plays. The Gators have allowed a touchdown of more than 30 yards in all three games so far. The last two have both been decided by one score. Like with the offense, Lacey said it was mostly a case of young players needing to learn how important every play can be.

“It’s just breakdowns and mental errors. It’s football stuff going on,” Lacey said. “(Against Holmes) the safety fell and the pass rush was off. You can’t take a play off, basically. Especially in those situations. Trying to teach the young guys situational football is the challenge right now.”

Another challenge is simply winning and getting some momentum heading into the MHSAA Region 2-6A schedule in October. The Gators have two games left to get right, this week at home against Terry and next week at Yazoo City.

“We’ve gotten better since the Red Carpet Bowl and I think we’re going to continue to do so,” Lacey said. “The good thing is, we’ve still got a district championship in front of us, you’ve still got state in front of us. You’ve still got all the goals that you set for the season in front of you. You’ve just got to correct it.”

FRIDAY’S AREA GAMES
All games start at 7 p.m.
Warren Central at Brandon (Radio: 105.5 FM)
Terry at Vicksburg (Radio: 107.7 FM)
St. Aloysius at Clinton Christian (Radio: 101.3 FM)
Porter’s Chapel at Park Place (Radio: 104.5 FM)
Wilkinson County Christian at Tallulah Academy
Raymond at Port Gibson
General Trass at Madison Parish