Mullins on cusp of tremendous season

By Dennis Brunson

hssr.com Associate Editor

Mullins – What a year it’s been for the Mullins High School football team.

The Auctioneers came into the campaign on a 15-game losing streak and were losers of 20 of their last 21 contests. Mullins snapped the losing streak in its first game and owned a 6-game winning streak heading into its game against Lake City on October 4. More importantly, the Auctioneers started 3-0 in Region 7-AA.

Head coach Marc Lowery, whose team was winless in 10 contests last year in his first season, stated before the season Mullins was going to be much improved. He is not surprised the Auctioneers have yet to taste defeat.

“I definitely thought this is what could be,” Lowery said. “The biggest thing is even now I don’t we’ve hit our potential or what it could be. We’ve just got to keep working.”

Mullins snapped the losing streak with a 48-0 shellacking of Class A Hemingway, not much of a surprise since the Tigers have struggled in recent years. However, the next game was against Class A power Lake View. The Auctioneers trailed 14-0 at halftime and 21-8 entering the fourth quarter before scoring 14 points to win 22-21.

“That was a key game for us,” Lowery said. “Not taking away anything from anybody else we’ve played, but Lake View has been our toughest competition . To come from 14 points down made it even better. To get a win over a good team coming down from two scores was tremendous. That’s the only time we’ve trailed this season.”

The Auctioneers have been strong defensively, allowing just 51 points in the first six games. They’d recorded two shutouts and had two other games allowing just six points.

Mullins has been a big-play defense with 45 tackles for loss and having forced 11 turnovers with six interceptions and five fumble recoveries. Lowery said a change in defensive philosophy has led to the success.

“Defensively, we wanted to change up some things,” Lowery said. “We had never been a cover 2 defense. We studied stuff, looked at stuff, and we decided we were going to be a more sound defense. With the 4-2 scheme we’re playing real disciplined football. Players know their responsibilities and assignments.”

Junior defensive end Ayntwain Crawford led the team in tackles for loss with 13 to go with 29 total tackles and a fumble recovery. Senior defensive tackle Lonnie Alston has 26 tackles and 11 TFLs, while junior linebacker Andre Littlejohn and junior defensive Braden Hughes both have eight TFLs.

           Littlejohn leads tackles with 42, while sophomore linebacker Nathan Peracki had 37. Senior cornerback Ny’zir Howard and junior free safety Deyon Ford both had two interceptions. Senior defensive back Lebron Avant had a 70-yard interception return to go with 27 tackles.

           The offense has had its good moments and bad moments, but it has gotten the job done. Junior quarterback Kanazzion Bethea has completed 39 of 83 passes for 636 yards and 10 touchdowns while rushing for 205 yards on 41 carries. Junior Tyron Allen led in rushing with 287 yards on 31 carries.

           Junior Justin Reaves Jr. was the leading receiver with 16 catches for 171 yards. Senior Zayan Grant had four catches for 119 yards. Nine other players had catches.

           “We’re winning games, and it’s good we’re not playing our best football and still winning. We need to stop making unforced errors, things that stall us. I’ve told them, ‘As soon as we clean up that kind of stuff, you’re as good as anyone in AA.’

‘They’ve got to understand every penalty is important. To go from good to great, it’s the little things. We don’t want to sneak in the playoffs. We want to win the region. To do that, it’s the little things.”