No. 9 Bulldogs open season at Northeast

PERKINSTON – The Mississippi Gulf Coast football team spent most of August banging helmets with each other and sweating out a load of practices.

Thursday, the ninth-ranked Bulldogs play their season opener at Northeast. Coach Chad Huff is focusing on what's between his player's ears now.

"The first game of the year is a road trip," he said. "We've got a young football team. The thing as a coach you worry about is maintaining focus. I think our guys are up for the challenge."

The Tigers went 2-7 last year, with the teams meeting in last year's season-opener, as well. Gulf Coast won that meeting 41-8, extending a winning streak against Northeast to nine games dating back through the 1998 season.

The Bulldogs finished 8-2.

The Tigers will be led by quarterback Kendrick Doss, who originally signed with Ole Miss. The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder from Florence, Ala., combined for 6,220 yards total yards and72 total touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons.

"I'm expecting a very talented bunch," Huff said. "They're going to be athletic at quarterback. They've got a kid who can run around and throw. We're going to try to make sure we control the line of scrimmage up front and make them one-dimensional."

One of Doss' targets will be Joe Horn Jr., a 5-foot-10, 185-pound sophomore from Atlanta. The son of the former NFL wideout Joe Horn, a volunteer coach at Northeast and a MACJC product himself, had a team-high six touchdowns last season.

Horn had 33 receptions for 435 yards, with catches in all nine games.

Anthony Rush, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive lineman, is a Tiger to watch on the other side of the football.

Huff stressed the power of positive visualization to his team Tuesday, playing the game over and over in their minds to know what to do when the whistle blows in Booneville.

"Offensively, we going to have to eliminate turnovers and create explosive plays," he said. "First games of the year, that's what it comes down to. They come down to the teams that give up the fewest explosives, the team that take care of the football and give themselves a chance to win these early games."