This Friday, the Pearl River Central Blue Devils will have a different mentality as they enter their first conference game of the season on the road against the Stone Tomcats.

The Blue Devils have had a roller coaster season so far with a 2-2 record. When the Devils win, they show how potent their offense can be, averaging 40.5 points. However, when they lose they average 17.5.

“You want to keep getting better. I have seen great improvements at every position so far this season and that’s a positive,” Dolan said. “We hope to get off to a good start for these conference games and learn from our mistakes from our previous games.”

In last year’s matchup, PRC controlled the game in all four quarters, winning 68-28. In this high-scoring affair, it was the Blue Devils defense that stepped up, snatching five interceptions and capitalizing on 224 interception yards overall. Also, PRC had a total of 116 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss and a single sack compared to Stone’s 61 total tackles with none for a loss and no sacks.

Although the PRC defense practically won this game last year, they had trouble stopping the Tomcats’ running back Terrion Avery as he ran for 276 yards and had a hat-trick of touchdowns.

After four games this season, Avery has 727 total rushing yards and eight touchdowns, averaging two touchdowns and 181 yards per game on the ground.

Also, Stone has another threat that plays on both sides of the ball, leading the team in stats for both positions. Nick Brown, leading receiver, has a team-high 11 receptions for 115 yards with four touchdowns. Additionally, he leads the team in passes defended with seven deflections.

Even with these opposing threats, Dolan is focusing on something different.

“We can’t worry about the other team because we can only control what we do. We need to worry about ourselves and keep trying to improve each day,” Dolan said. “We want to approach this conference game like it’s a new season. These games are the ones that matter the most and determine if you get into the playoffs.”

In the Blue Devils’ game last week against Slidell High School, Diante Lenoir shined on offense for the second game in a row, bringing in seven catches for 122 yards and a single touchdown during a difficult game.

“He’s just a great athlete. We try to get him in some good match ups and Wyatt did a good job of finding him when he was open,” Dolan said.

Over the past couple games, PRC’s quarterback Wyatt Davis and Lenoir have connected 11 times for 257 total passing yards with four touchdowns.

Kickoff for the game at Stone High School will be at 7 p.m. on Friday.