By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

POPLARVILLE — Second year Poplarville head coach Chris Teal can see the difference a year has made.

Last year, Teal took over the helm of the Hornets late due to circumstances beyond his control and although he put his troops through spring training his team wasn’t able to play against another opponent to conclude the drills like most teams do.

This year, however, was different.

The Hornets wrapped up spring drills Friday meeting Dexter and host Tylertown each in a half of play, with Tylertown winning 14-12 and Dexter 28-0.

Despite the scores, Teal was just happy that not only did he get to spend an entire offseason with his squad but they got to hit other folks also.

“We saw a lot of bright spots this spring,” Teal, whose first Poplarville team finished 1-8 last year, said. “Obviously, like everyone else there are some things we have to work on but you can’t put a price on being here the whole time. We feel like we have a good strong footing going into the offseason.”

Tailback Tyler Holston scored both touchdowns for the Hornets Friday.

He, along with fullback Roderick Means, quarterback Eli Frierson and wide reciever Dexter Childs were cited by Teal for having good spring workouts.

“Offensively, I was pleased with the execution 80 percent of the time,” Teal added.

On defense, Teal singled out end Blaine Northrup, linebackers Colton Smith and Jonthan McNair and Nick Peters in the secondary as excelling during the spring.

“I was well pleased with the defense,” Teal said. “We ran our base most of the time and we did a good job of picking that up.”

Poplarville remains in Region 8-4A next year, but the league will look quite different as Pearl River County rivals Pearl River Central and Picayune have moved up to Class 5A.