Porter’s Chapel Academy has figured out how to win its season opener. Winning its second game has been a little trickier.

The Eagles crushed River Oaks 66-34 last week for their third consecutive opening-week victory. They haven’t started 2-0 since 2013, however, and will try to get there by beating Delta Academy this Friday.

Head coach Blake Purvis said it’s just a matter of putting together the same kind of performance as last week, when the defense scored two touchdowns, the offense had seven, and special teams plays set both of them up with good field position.

“When you play all three phases of the game at a high level, I believe good things are going to happen,” Purvis said. “I don’t know what the percentage is, but I would say your percentage of winning drastically increases when you score nine touchdowns.”

The start of Friday’s game against Delta was moved back 30 minutes because of concerns about the heat. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. instead of 7.

PCA’s offense was powered by its one-two running back punch of Jase Jung and Ty Mack. Each had 138 yards against River Oaks. Mack only had four carries and scored two touchdowns, while Jung had nine carries and scored three touchdowns. Jung also recovered a fumble for a touchdown on defense.

Taylor Labarre also had a 66-yard touchdown run. PCA totaled 360 rushing yards and averaged 18 yards per carry. Purvis said it’s an obvious recipe for success.

“With the amount of guys we can hand the ball to, and the way they’ve been running it, they’re running hard and they’re hard to tackle. It’s going to take two or three guys most times to bring them down,” Purvis said. “The nature of this game is you don’t get, two or three guys, a lot of chances. If they keep operating at that level and with that intensity it’s going to be a big part of our offense.”

Another big part is quarterback John Wyatt Massey. The senior only ran for 18 yards and threw for 62 on 4-of-6 passing, but one of his completions was a 21-yard touchdown to Thomas Azlin.

Purvis said it was an audible called by Massey, and showed the skill and leadership he’s bringing to the position. Massey is in his second season as a starter and sixth, including junior high, playing the position in PCA’s system.

“A veteran quarterback back there makes a huge difference. He checked a play call the other night from a run to a pass and it ended up being six points. That’s what you want with a guy like that,” Purvis said. “He’s been playing quarterback in this system for six years now. You would expect to have things like that. To see him do that and make that call just tells me the understanding that we have of our offense.”

As impressive as the win over River Oaks was, Purvis added that it’s important to remember that it’s only the first of 11 games on the schedule. The Eagles have a long season ahead and there’s still plenty of room to improve on even a one-sided victory.

“We’ve talked about it all summer long, it’s going to be a long season. Every week’s a new week and continuing to do what we all the time around here, and control what we can control,” Purvis said. “The score aside, we played a good game but we didn’t play a perfect game. There’s definitely some things we have to work on and things we can correct. That’s our plan this week.”

FRIDAY’S AREA GAMES
Regular season
Adams County Christian at St. Aloysius, 7 p.m.
Tallulah Academy at Riverdale, 7 p.m.
Delta Academy at Porter’s Chapel, 7:30 p.m.
Preseason
North Pike at Warren Central, 6 p.m.
Vicksburg vs. Laurel, 6:30 p.m., at Bay Springs