Three years ago, St. Aloysius met Puckett for a first round playoff game. Flashes coach Jim Taylor remembers a tough team then and nothing much has changed. Puckett is still tough and will bring an unbeaten team to Vicksburg tonight.

Back in 2002, Puckett whipped St. Al en route to the Class 1A title and an unbeaten 14-0 season. This year, the Wolves (7-0, 5-0) are unbeaten again and a favorite for the 1A title.

&#8220I remember them from the playoff game. That team went 14-0 and won the state. They’re real good again. There’s a reason why they were picked to win this region,” Taylor said. &#8220They’ve got a lot of team speed. They just attack you on defense, come at you hard on every play.

&#8220They have a lot of talent with size, strength and speed. Lake’s been the only one who’s been able to stay with them for a while.”

Points have been hard to come by against the Puckett defense. The Wolves have allowed only 44 points in six games.

&#8220They come in ranked fourth in the state and they are very deserving of that,” Taylor said. &#8220They were only 5-5 last year but they were able to bring back their best running back and they now look a lot like the team that won state.”

Puckett has scored 195 points (35 per game) behind a smash-mouth attack.

&#8220They ain’t tricking anybody,” Taylor said. &#8220They line up in a Power-I with two tight ends and run at you, up the middle or on toss sweeps. But they also have some passing sets.”

St. Al has struggled this season to a 1-6 mark but the Flashes have played well at times against several teams in the top half of Region 3-1A, including Thomastown, Noxapater and Nanih Wayia. The trio beat St. Al by a total of 19 points.

&#8220I thought we played well against Nanih Waiya,” Taylor said. &#8220We moved the ball well enough. That game came down to a missed extra point. We missed and that left the game at 14-13. We just don’t seem to make the big play when we need it.”

The Flashes are led by running back Alex Halinksi who has rushed for nearly 600 yards.