Week in and week out the Pearl River Central Blue Devils have one thing on their mind, to better themselves and not focus on things they can’t control.

Last week, the team faced Stone High School, who scored seven times against the Blue Devils. Although large deficit games are hard to come back from, Blue Devils Head Football Coach Larry Dolan is optimistic about the rest of the season.

“I believe the team will bounce back. These kids are tough. We’ve had a lot of good days of practice and I think we will improve from last week,” Dolan said.

PRC looks to even out their record of 2-3, 0-1 district, against a battered Gautier team Friday night. The Gators are 1-4 this season, but have played power house teams in the state, including Picayune Memorial High School last week. However, Dolan has a distinct goal for his team as they continue to avoid underestimating their opponent.

“We need to eliminate our mistakes. I think we went backward this past week, but sometimes that happens,” Dolan said. “We have a better football team than what we saw last week and we will continue to work hard for the end result we want.”

In last week’s game against the Stone Tomcats, PRC had trouble controlling the ball offensively with four turnovers. At one point in the game, three of those four turnovers came from three consecutive plays, losing the ball from two failed handoffs and a 20-yard pick six.

Although turnovers seemed to be a factor, Dolan said he believes their loss last week was because of something different; saying, “maybe the kids were too excited and lost track of the fundamentals.”

With a tough loss comes plenty of rewards, like learning from mistakes and illuminating leaders who kept the team in the game mentally as well as physically.

Gautier comes into Friday’s game with an offense that runs mainly through senior running back Deandre Torrey.

Torrey not only has five of the 11 rushing touchdowns for the Gators, he also has three of the five receiving touchdowns so far this season, accumulating 173 total passing yards and 503 rushing yards.

PRC holds a stout defense led by outside linebacker Seth Orgeron. This athletic defense comes into Friday with three interceptions and five fumble recoveries this year.

To compliment their defense, PRC has a balanced offense that can become potent from multiple players at any moment.

Newly added offensive threat Diante Lenoir has stepped up for the Blue Devils since their third game. He has 133 total rushing yards and a touchdown to go along with his 371 receiving yards and five touchdowns, on a mere 18 catches this season. Wyatt Davis, PRC quarterback, has thrown for nearly 1,000 yards this season with a .657 completion percentage and seven touchdowns.

This anticipated offensive shootout will kick off at 7 p.m. in the Blue Devils’ stadium Friday night.