The Poplarville Hornets will face the Purvis Tornadoes on the road this Friday, Sept. 30. Both teams are 4-1 this season.

Purvis typically gets on the board early, averaging two first quarter touchdowns a game.

They run a spread offense led by their quarterback, who throws the ball well.

On the season, the team has scored 144 points.

Hornets Head Coach Jay Beech said this match-up will be a good challenge for the Hornets defense. Beech’s defensive game plan will aim to put a halt to the Tornadoes’ typical early start.

“We got to play sound football, we can’t get beat on play action, can’t let people run free and uncovered, we got play sound, disciplined and stay focused,” said Beech.

This week’s practice plan focused on expanding the Hornets’ game in all aspects.

Their goal remains the same, win a district title, but the Hornets aren’t getting too ahead of themselves.

“We got to take it week by week we got to be really focused on Purvis and not look ahead. Sometimes it’s hard for kids to possibly not look ahead but Purvis has earned our respect. They can very easily beat us. So we got to put all of our attention on Purvis,” said Beech.

Beech was pleased with the first phase of the season’s outcome.

Phase one’s goal was for the team to get better every week in all aspects of the game and he thinks they’ve accomplished that.

With phase two underway, Beech said the Hornets are heading in the right direction towards their goal. He added that having better practice habits will help in that process.

Come Friday, the Hornets plan to dominate the line of scrimmage on both ends of the ball.

Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m.