Building momentum: No. 4 Hornets look to keep things going against Humble Kingwood
Sep. 10—HUNTSVILLE — The Hornet offense was solid, and occasionally great, in their first game of the 2021 season.
Now Huntsville has to duplicate that effort against yet another Class 6A opponent. After beating rival Willis 43-31, No. 4 Huntsville welcomes Humble Kingwood (0-2) this week.
"The old saying says that 'you should always make the most improvement between Week 1 and Week 2,'" Hornets head coach Rodney Southern said. "We need to clean up at the start of the game. Historically, we have not given up a lot of big plays and we gave up two last week."
Against Willis, one of the big plays was a called draw that allowed the Wildkats to pick up over 70 yards and a score. The other was a double-pass-flea-flicker.
Kingwood will bring a little bit of a different look for the defense to adjust as well. The Mustangs have a young offensive team and return only five players from last season.
Senior running back Nick Bernel will be a focal point of their offense, after averaging 4.4. yards per carry through the first two games of the season.
"We corrected our mistakes from the film on Saturday and we will try the best you can to make sure that doesn't happen next week," Southern noted. "It wasn't a lack of effort, it's their coaching too. This early in the year you almost have to work on you just as much as you have to them."
The Mustang defense will also be led by linebacker Grant Mize, who has already compiled 17 tackles.
Huntsville's offense showed that they didn't miss a beat. Led by senior quarterback A.J. Wilson, the Hornet offense gained 342 yards, with 199 of them coming from the ground attack. Senior running back Jaylon McClain led the way with 105 of those rushing yards — now averaging 102 yards per game since he was given the starting running back nod in 2020.
Wilson also threw for 149 yards with four scores against the Wildkats.
"Jaylon has been very consistent since being named our starting running back," Southern said. "We know Justin (Butcher) is a guy we are going to go to, and I thought A.J. played very well. We have some other guys that we will need to become some other factors this week."
The defense for the Hornets is still working out the kinks. Moving senior Calvin Simmons to the defensive line is just one of the many things they did to help bolster the defensive front. Freshman Christian Hall has taken his place at linebacker, and will line up next to senior Bun Shelly for the rest of the season.
Simmions finished last Friday night with two sacks, while being a big part of the Hornets' defensive attempt to shut down the Wildkat offense, allowing only 258 total yards.
"Calvin gives us a powerful guy up front," Southern added. "At some point, you have to have a guy who can pass rush. Right now as long as our linebackers can hold up with Bun Shelly, Christian Hall and Jarvious Houston. If those bodies continue to hold up, this is how it will be."
The Hornets will be back in action Friday night with kickoff set for 7:30 at Bowers Stadium on the campus of Sam Houston.
