Perry confident after surpassing last year’s win total

For a team that is coming off of a two-win season, a 3-3 record is not a bad way to start a season.

The Perry Panthers have done that this season, and they won their first GHSA Region 2-4A game last week, defeating Howard 27-0.

Perry hosts Upson-Lee in another region contest Friday night. Upson-Lee beat Perry 35-7 a year ago, but head coach Carl Dixon is confident that his team will give him another great effort.

“We would like to think that we are a much better football team than last year, and honestly, the Upson-Lee game last year was one of our worst games,” said Dixon, who is in his second year as the Panthers’ head coach after a long stint as a Perry assistant coach. “This group is a more focused football team, and they are starting to realize that what we do the week before a game at practice is how you win football games. We had a great practice Monday morning, and we want to build off of that.”

Perry is a bit out of its routine this week because there are no classes due to fall break.

“Sure, it worries me that we are not on our usual schedule, but it gives us a chance to practice early in the day, and it also gives the coaches a little more time on the game plan,” Dixon said. “We are just going to enjoy the time off and have this team ready to play a very good Upson-Lee team.”

Perry counts on running backs Jay Watkins and Khalil Alexander and quarterback Damion Bagley to lead the offense, while Dixon is also confident in his team’s ability to throw the ball.

“Jhi’Marre Brown has really stepped up as a leader and as someone who will catch the ball for us, and we really have not had that in the last few years,” Dixon said.

Defensively, Perry is led by Payton Moss and Javon Walker and will look forward to the return of Jamati Harris, who has missed the past two games with a concussion.

“It seemed like last year we would play teams close for a half, and then things would get away from us,” Dixon said. “This year, we feel like we have been in almost every game heading into the fourth quarter. We like the feeling of being 1-0 in the region, and we are working hard to be competitive in every game.”

Upson-Lee enters the game at 3-3 after losing to region foe Mary Persons 24-0 a week ago.

This story was originally published October 10, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Perry confident after surpassing last year’s win total."