By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
Playing in the 6-3A, Smackover has become no stranger to seeing schools with powerful ground games.
On Friday night, the Bucks will have to find a way to slow down one of the state's top running backs regardless of class if they want to extend their season, as Smackover heads to Mayflower for a showdown in the second round of the 3A playoffs.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. from Mayflower.
The Eagles (10-0) are the 2-3A's No. 1 seed and are coming off a bye.
The Bucks (7-4) are the 6-3A's No. 3 seed, and they earned Friday's trip to Mayflower by topping Lamar 49-28 in last week's opening round.
Having won their first league title since 2008, the Eagles have been dominant on their road to perfection, and the Bucks have a stern test awaiting them.
Outside of a 19-point win over Barton in Week 4, the Eagles haven't been tested.
Their lowest output of points this season was the 42 they scored in a Week 7 win over Harding Academy.
For Mayflower coach Todd Langrell, the Eagles' success starts with his seniors.
"Senior leadership is always big, and we've got 14 seniors," Langrell said. "We have several three-year starters, and I think we have an identity on offense and defense. Our kids know what their respective roles are. I think they've totally bought in to what we're doing. We have a self-accountability, and I give free reign of a kid to go substitute at any time. If a kid is watching his position and another kid doesn't get the job done or does the wrong assignment, we'll sub. They hold each other accountable, and I think that's a major contributor to our success this year."
But while the Eagles have run roughshod over their opponents this fall, Langrell believes his team hasn't peaked yet.
"To be honest, I knew we had a chance to be pretty good, and to this point, I still don't know how good we are," Langrell said. "Defensively, I think that's been a major step up from years past. I know our conference may be down a little bit, but the top is pretty good."
As far as the bye is concerned, Langrell said that while he wouldn’t have minded playing, he added that the time off gave the Eagles some needed rest.
"I probably would've liked to keep on going, but when we came back, I thought we had a really good up-tempo practice," Langrell said. "Last week, we had two good practices. We wanted to get in two days of good practice. The other days, we lifted, so we let them off. I think we came back refreshed. They know what's at stake. They came out with a great attitude and a lot of energy."
Although he may be diminutive in size (listed at 5-foot-6 and 155 pounds), junior running back Deon Simmons is long on talent.
The junior has racked up 1,969 yards and 37 touchdowns on just 170 carries, good for just over 11 1/2 yards per carry. On five occasions, Simmons has rushed for better than 250 yards.
"He is a hide-and-seek running back," Langrell said. "He'll hide behind a blocker and seek a hole and then burst out. For his size, he's very, very powerful. His highlight film is unbelievable. He doesn't get caught from behind very often. He's a special, special player, and I hope great things happen for that young man in the future. He is a dynamic player, and a very, very well-liked young man, very positive."
Simmons’ numbers are even more impressive considering the Eagles’ starters have rarely played in the second half down the stretch.
"Deon could be well over 2,000, probably up to 2,500 yards this year if he would've played anywhere close to a full game," Langrell said.
"It's kind of scary. Our starters haven't played a full game in over a month. Hopefully, we're physically in shape enough to go a whole game."
Smackover coach Mike Baysinger echoed Langrell's comments on the junior running back.
“He’s a smaller guy, but he runs like a big back. He runs real powerful,” Baysinger said.
“He’s shifty and he’s got good balance. He runs real hard."
Last week against Lamar, senior Peyton Jones broke open a close game by scoring two defensive touchdowns in the second half, and in order to slow down the Eagles, the Smackover defense must continue to play well.
“The defense is playing well, and they’ve played well all year,” Baysinger said.
“We’ve got to do the same thing this week. We need to stay consistent, wrap up and make good gang tackles.”
Baysinger added the teams should be evenly matched up front.
“We’re going to be close to the same size, but this will probably be the first team that hasn’t been a lot bigger than us up front,” Baysinger said. “I think it will be fairly evenly matched in the front.”
But while Simmons is certainly a key focal point of Mayflower's offense, the Eagles are also adept at throwing the ball when necessary.
Senior Sean Harris has completed over 73 percent of his passes for 846 yards and 14 touchdowns with just three interceptions.
In his last four games, Harris has thrown just one incomplete pass, tallying 331 yards and six touchdowns.
"I've been a part of some teams that have thrown it a lot more, and I've been a part of teams that have run it more," Langrell said.
"One thing is that it's a lot easier to call plays if you can run the football. When teams take the run away from us, I think we have the ability to throw it. Sean is very capable of doing that. We have some receivers that are very capable of getting open. We're going to take what the defense gives us."
Among his favorite targets is Keon Simmons, Deon's twin brother, who has caught 13 passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns.
Like his brother, Simmons is also terrific out of the backfield, having racked up 692 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 44 carries, good for an astonishing 15.7 yards per carry.
"Deon and Keon are the first to get down here for practice every single day," Langrell said.
"I can't say enough good things about both of those young men. We're trying to find different ways to get both of them the ball equally. It's kind of hard, but they're both very special players."
Senior Meshach Cole gives the Eagles yet another weapon on the outside.
Cole leads the team with 26 catches for 362 yards and five touchdowns, and Baysinger said the Bucks will have to be mindful of the Eagles' passing attack.
“He’s pretty good,” Baysinger said of Harris. “They don’t throw him a lot. They use a short, quick passing game, and they will test you vertically every now and then, but he’s pretty accurate and he’s got a pretty good arm.”
Baysinger added that not allowing Mayflower’s receivers to rack up yards after catches will be critical.
“There’s no doubt,” Baysinger said. “Keon plays one of the slot receivers, and he’s pretty good with the ball in his hands, so we’re going to have to be pretty close to him.”
Defensively, the Eagles are led by senior Turner Hudson, who has 95 tackles, including 9 1/2 for a loss.
Fellow senior Tyler Farris has 84 tackles, while juniors Tyler Maxwell and Dylan Burnett have 9 1/2 and 8 1/2 tackles for a loss respectively.
Maxwell also leads the team in sacks with four.
"Our offense gets a lot of credit, but our defense has scored defensive touchdowns and been able to stop people and contribute to our success," Langrell said.
"I think it's all about your identity. Who are we? What are we trying to do? What is your role in who we are? We try to teach and communicate every single day to know where your help is.
"A good coach that I used to coach with used to put quarters on a big table and say, 'Match your defense up.' Our kids could balance out the formation and know where they're supposed to be and know where the help is and know what their role is. We don't blitz a lot.
"We play base defense most of the time, but when we blitz, it comes at opportune times, and we usually do pretty good at that."
Baysinger liked the Eagles' inside linebackers.
“The inside linebackers stick out to me a little bit more than the outside linebackers do,” Baysinger said. "One thing is they’re going to play downhill fairly quick, and they’re bigger guys, so they’re going to be harder to push around than some of the linebackers we’ve played against this year.”
For the second straight week, senior running back Damarous White rushed for over 200 yards, finishing with 214 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries to help spearhead the Bucks' win last week, and he will need to come up big if the Bucks are to advance.
"We’re going to keep feeding him as long as we’re playing,” Baysinger said. “Our game plan is to give him the ball and see if we can be successful on the ground.”
Junior quarterback Roshard Boone enjoyed an efficient week, going 9-of-11 passing for 75 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and Baysinger has been happy with the passing game over the last few weeks.
“It’s gotten some things done that we’ve needed in some long-distance situations,” Baysinger said. “Boone is getting a little bit of experience and growing as a quarterback. We haven’t had to throw it as much because our running game has been pretty successful, but he’s come through when we’ve needed him to.”
If the Eagles are to keep their perfect season intact and advance to the quarterfinals, Langrell said his team must find a way to combat the Bucks’ speed and athleticism.
"Number one, we've got to come out with a fast start," Langrell said. "We know that this team is going to bring obstacles to us that we haven't seen all year with their speed. They have tremendous speed. They're extremely talented. They've got some weapons on offense. I think we have to dictate the tempo of the game."
For the Bucks, Baysinger said it will take a great effort on both sides of the ball to move on.
“We have got to be able to stop them and be able to gang tackle Deon,” Baysinger said. “When we get our chances, we’ve got to score on offense. We’ve got to sustain drives, run the ball, run some clock and get some stops if we can. The big thing is not beating ourselves offensively with snaps and penalties and things like that. I think they’re ready to go and looking forward to the challenge.”