News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days: West Harrison Hurricanes
The storm is coming at stop number 19 on News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days where the West Harrison Hurricanes are looking to take their program to the next category up in 2022.
“We’re not the same West Harrison we were a few years ago. We’re the new West Harrison.”
“Competition all the time. We’ve been hitting each other going back and forth.”
Head Coach Quincy Patrick said, “I mean we’ve been preaching since we got here to be competitive, practice hard. I mean we have one sign in our field house up and it says that you can’t practice soft and expect to play hard. And we just got to the point where our guys are practicing what we think should be a 5A practice.”
It’s been a long road for the West Harrison football program coming off its eighth straight season of winning two games or less.
But the Hurricanes are finally starting to see the fruits of their labor through their actions speaking louder than their words. “I remember when I was a first-year head coach, man, I had all of these cliche sayings. Put this on the wall. Put that on the wall. And what it comes down to is blocking, tackling, working hard. And if we just block, tackle, work hard, I mean that’s what it comes down to.”
And the Hurricanes tangibly better at blocking, tackling, working hard, last season posting their best point differential since 2012.
Those improvements not yet reflected in their overall record of 2-8 and Region 4 Class 5A mark of 1-6, but it’s getting there. “Don’t lose a loss, so let every loss teach you something.”
Running back Javon McCalebb said, “I look at that record and be like, I don’t want to feel that feeling again, so I just work harder every day.”
Offensive tackle Tyrone McPherson said, “A lot of these guys, they’ve got more dog in them this year. They saw what happened last year. We want to all make it better.”
Running back Melvin Pickens said, “We had flashes where you could see we played as a team really well, where we were in games at either the beginning or the end, and we were competing against other teams, and you could see that. And right now, we’re trying to focus on finishing out games, and competing all the way through.”
Unfortunately for West Harrison, star Running back Melvin Pickens won’t be suiting up for the Hurricanes as a senior, having torn his left ACL during their spring game.
Last season, his play did all the talking as a 1,000-yard rusher with at least 14 touchdowns, but now Pickens is reinventing himself as the heartbeat of the team. “I want to be able to lead these guys by example with my words, so that way, they can have the energy they need to go out there and do what I want to do for them. And obviously, it breaks my heart that I can’t play with them. But I know these guys, they put in the work over the summer and during the spring and I know that without me, they might be even better. So, I mean, I think this is the team that’s going to bring it home for West Harrison this year.”
“I think it’s going to be a group effort. Melvin Pickens is going to be a huge loss for us. Not necessarily on the field, but his presence, leadership. I mean he’s probably the best leader, if not the second-best leader, I’ve ever coached. Great young man. I mean he’s a fantastic young man. We lost him in the spring game, and I’m still sick about it.”
Stepping up as the top option in West Harrison’s Wing-T offense is junior Running back Javon McCalebb, who’s getting the ball from junior Quarterback Brady Martin.
Overall, 16 returning starters for the Hurricanes to go along with 14 seniors, including Pickens and Tyrone McPherson who both consider this to be the calm before the storm. “Our record from last year, we don’t want that again. We use that as motivation to go faster, go harder and finish through practice and go above that.”
“We want to be the first team at this school to win more than two games. We want teams to know that West Harrison is here to compete and we want to win games and we want to go to the playoffs this year.”
“That’s a lot of pressure to put on anybody to say, you’re going to be the class to turn around a program that’s been struggling since its inception. But they all want to do it. I mean every senior class has wanted to do it. I mean that’s every senior class in the country wants to be the one that takes the team over the hump, whether you’ve won nine consecutive state championships or never been to the playoffs. Every team wants to do it. So those guys, they see, they learn, they understand what it takes to get to the next level.”
The Hurricanes kick off the new year with a home game against Bay High on August 26th.
Let’s get to know Coach Patrick a little better, starting with his top Gulfport food choices, he’s going with Mugshots and Sicily’s. As for coaching idols, coaching mentor Eric Collins who’s made head coaching stops at PRC, D’Iberville, Bay High, and East Central, as well as his high school coach Brad Breland at Union. His favorite championship moment, Da Bears in the Superdome.
