It wasn’t the result coach Marcus Rogers wanted, but then again he does admit he’s a perfectionist.

Rogers’ Vicksburg team fell to a highly-touted McComb squad Friday night by just six points, despite a host of turnovers, penalties and miscues that hampered them for most of the night. Most coaches would accept the loss as part of the learning curve and praise their team for trying. But Rogers is not like most coaches, and he understands how close the Gators were to starting the 2014 season with a statement win.

So he’s taken it upon himself to fix the kinks before Friday’s road game against South Delta and, for him, it starts from within.

“The effort plays are what killed us. The quarterback breaking out three times, third and longs and converting and scoring nonetheless, and also turnovers on offense,” Rogers said. “Two interceptions and a fumble, there’s just no excuse for that.”

After a lengthy film session Sunday night, Rogers was able to take a closer look at what his team needs to improve upon, and it starts with the side of the ball he hangs his hat on.

“I think the No. 1 thing is we must clean up the turnovers. Even at the end of the day with the missed tackles, if we do half of what we’re supposed to do we outscore that team easy,” Rogers said. “I mean, 26-21 is no excuse when you get two interceptions and a fumble.”

Hanging on to the football is the most urgent priority for the Gators, but Rogers said having the stamina to be able to do so is a close second.

“I saw a conditioning thing in that game too, where we got a little tired,” he said. “And I don’t make excuses for the heat or anything because (McComb) felt the same way. I just think at the end of the day we need to compete a little harder.”

On defense, the coaching staff preached tackling like it was the gospel. Rogers had high praise for his assistants for putting the players in position to make plays, but from what he saw, the defense let a lot of early stops slip through its fingers.

“The missed tackles are not acceptable, but they were overcome-able. We should have been able to overcome that and win in spite of those missed tackles. Now, it’s not going to be accepted this week,” Rogers said.

“We’re going to hit, hit, hit. We’re not going to kill each other but we’re going to tackle, we’re going to form tackle, we’re going to run through dummies, we’re going to run tackling sleds all week like we’ve been doing before. But we’ve got to get the effort up.”

Those things, like tackling mechanics and eliminating turnovers, can be fixed fairly easily. Changing the mindset of a team is much harder. Rogers saw in his squad Friday night the sheer will to win from which good teams are made, and he’s excited about where this season will go once everything is put into place.

“After the game, I saw faces, I saw tears, I saw heads hung down, heads hung high, some people just boo-hoo crying,” he said. “That let me know emotionally that they’re in it to win it. They’re not just going to accept a loss.”

On the radio

Friday, 7 p.m., 1490 AM

Vicksburg at South Delta