Saturday morning was not the first time this season Vicksburg has been forced to rebound after a painful lopsided defeat, but if coach Marcus Rogers has anything to say about, it will be the last. The Gators (3-3, 1-1 Region 2-5A) left Gluckstadt after receiving a 45-14 beatdown at the hands of Germantown, and Rogers found himself giving a similar talk to the one he dished out after his team’s 42-0 loss to Warren Central earlier in the year.

“It was the same type of speech like after the Warren Central game, as far as clichés go. Don’t let them beat you twice,” Rogers said. “We met Sunday and I ended up having an offensive practice with my kids for about an hour and a half. I just felt like we couldn’t sit on our hands. We needed to get out there and take initiative.”

The narrative of Vicksburg’s 2014 season has played out in each of its three losses. Turnovers and self-inflicted mistakes have defined the Gators, and Rogers has continually been searching for answers to get his team over the .500 hump and into the win column once again.

“We’re battling each other right now. The opponent is secondary,” he said. “Right now we’re beating ourselves. We need to take care of business and we’ll worry about the opponent later. If we can take care of what we can take care of, we’re going to be OK.”

In an attempt to combat his squad’s propensity for giving opponents short fields and turning the ball over, Rogers has turned to simplifying his offensive formations with hopes it will translate into more positive plays.

“I just felt like we needed to try something different,” he said. “We’re going to do some different formations and scale back the plays, try to just do some simple things so we can get pluses instead of getting negatives on plays.”

Rogers is also bringing up a slew of ninth grade players to the varsity level in an attempt to give his team a youthful injection of life. The Gators hosts Ridgeland in their first region home game of the season Friday night.

“(Ridgeland) is another ball club just like Germantown or just like Warren Central. They’re fundamentally sound and they’re not going to beat themselves,” he said. “That’s what I told the guys and what I’ve been preaching to them. We’re beating ourselves.”

But while the current loss has Vicksburg focusing on the negatives, the Gators’ goal of hosting a playoff game and competing for a region championship are still well within reach. If Rogers’ squad will be able to snatch it is up to how they respond Friday night.

“This week has been about mental toughness, how we’re going to bounce back,” he said. “The true character of a man is how he battles adversity. We talked all week about loving each other, having fun and just having team-building activities where we can come out and give a good show Friday night.”