Houston County football makes it three in a row against Perry in Jeremy Edwards era

PERRY — The Houston County Bears have not known defeat in the Panther Pit under head coach Jeremy Edwards.

In Edwards’s first year they won a narrow 57-56 game at home. In year two they marched into Perry and won a 42-35 shootout to give the eventual state champion Panthers one of their two losses. In year three they controlled possession, created big plays and limited the Perry offense to come out on top 31-17.

Here are three observations from Friday’s intense rivalry game:

PHOTOS: See more shots from Friday in the Panther Pit.

1. “When you have a dude, you give the ball to the dude”

Isaiah Mitchell, despite the Perry secondary’s best efforts, could not be stopped.

He had all four touchdowns for HoCo on the night and burned the Panthers in a variety of situations.

His first touchdown came on a quick slant in the first quarter, just after he had a big play up the left sideline to help the Bears into scoring position. He had a quick release off of the line, won inside leverage, and scored six.

His second touchdown was a similar situation in all but distance; He brought down a 41-yard reception to make it 17-0 HoCo with 5:42 to play in the first half.

His third touchdown he beat Perry over the top for a 35-yard touchdown reception, and on his final in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter he broke free for 39 yards on a screen after getting a great block.

Mitchell has by far been the Bears best weapon this season; Edwards had this to say about his star wide out after the game:

“When you have a dude, you give the ball to the dude. It’s all about players, not plays. So if you got a guy you’re trying to get the ball to, and they allow you to do it, then you keep taking advantage of it.”

2. The Perry offense met their match

The Panthers dominated offensively through their first two games, but struggled to move the ball against the HoCo front.

Perry was unable to produce any big plays on the ground, and only one through the air.

As they attempted to come back from down 24-10 at the half, they put the offense on the shoulders of Cullen McDaniel. It saw mixed results.

For the most part McDaniel got the ball where it needed to be, but with the Bears’ pass coverage and a couple of misses it wasn’t enough.

The lone chunk play for Perry came with under seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter; Kory Pettigrew made a fantastic catch in double coverage on a 37-yard reception that set up the Panthers’ lone score in the second half.

“We stopped the run so they had to get pretty one-dimensional trying to throw the ball. [Pass coverage] is something we’ve been working on. We got some of our guys back this week, so they’re healthy…those guys did a good job of executing the game plan,” Edwards said on limiting big plays.

3. The Bears controlled possession with the run

Many expected Friday’s contest to be a shootout much like the last two years, but HoCo controlled possession with their ground game to keep the ball out of Perry’s hands.

That’s not to say they dominated the ground — the Panthers stuffed many runs and caught several behind the sticks — but in the second half the Bears chipped away with Austin Stinson and burned a lot of clock.

Javien Durham has been the bell cow for HoCo in the first two games, but Edwards said that Stinson had a great week in practice and got the nod to start.

Noteworthy

Despite giving up four receiving touchdowns to Mitchell, Perry’s secondary had a good showing. Andrew Battle, Devon Smoot and Trishaun Mckenzie were able to break up several passes on the night, and none of Mitchell’s touchdowns were the result of busted coverage.

UP NEXT

Perry has a bye week, but HoCo will host Warner Robins — who is fresh off of a 34-12 win against Northside — on Friday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m.