To get to the heart of why Bay Springs is 2-2 in Week 5 of the season, you have to go back to 2015.
In his second season as head coach, Dan Brady and his Bulldogs – with the help of senior Cadarius Lee and junior Jaylin Jones – surprised the 2A classification with a 12-3 finish.
Last season wasn’t a shock to those paying attention, Bay Springs cruised through region play and the playoffs, even knocking off 2A powerhouse Bassfield – winner of four-straight titles – in the South State Playoffs, 18-13.
Imagine trying to fill out the following years’ schedule after two years of 12-win seasons.
“When you good, a lot of school’s will not play you,” said Brady. “I told our guys that these first six weeks would be an extremely frustrating six weeks.”
The season started with a 41-8 blowout of county rival Stringer, who is now 3-1 on the season with wins over 2A Clarkdale, Enterprise-Clarke and Mize. But since Week 1, the Bulldogs have gone 1-2. Their losses include one of the state’s strongest 2A programs Philadelphia, and 5A West Jones.
“Last week [Friday night] I thought our all-around effort was great,” said Brady. “But at the same time, we felt like it was a game we let slip away. We had an interception return for a touchdown that was called back and fumbled the ball inside the 20-yard line.
“Having said that, I don’t want to take anything away from West Jones. They’re a good team, but anytime you play up three classifications, and you don’t allow them to get a touchdown, that’s a game you should win. We were in a position to make the plays, and we didn’t. Then again, a lot of that credit goes to West Jones.”
The other ‘W’ Bay Springs managed came in Week 3 – a sloppy 20-14 overtime win against 3A Morton.
Consistency is a focus moving forward.
“Another thing I tell our guys is that I’m not looking for another Jaylin Jones or another Damerious Jones,” Brady said. “Those guys were great players, absolutely, but I just want our kids now to do what they are capable of doing.
“Every team is different. Like last year, we were so run heavy. We could pretty much run [the ball] at any time. This year we are a little different. We’re going to have to throw the ball a little bit more. And we have to get better defensively. We’re smaller, but we’re faster. But at the end of the day, I just ask our guys to get better and play like they’re capable of being.”
If there’s been a pride about the Brady era, it’s been in the team’s ability to break tackles. The team as a whole this season hasn’t lived up to that according to the four-year head coach.
“We have done a terrible job at the skill positions of breaking tackles,” said Brady. “I challenged our skill guys this week to do so. The other area we need work on is on our mental game. We’ve made mental mistakes at inopportune times.
“To be honest, if we would have played a weaker schedule, even with our mental mistakes we could be 4-0 right now. But that isn’t the way we want it.”
But to be honest, 2-2 on the season with the strength of schedule is a good place to be for the Bulldogs.
Bay Springs hopes to go 3-2 after Week 5. The Bulldogs play 4A Northeast Jones (0-4) in the Jungle Friday night. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
