102nd Battle For The Lil’ Brown Jug: Hattiesburg @ Laurel

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) -When the little brown jug is on the line, everything means more.

Hattiesburg Head Coach Tony Vance & Laurel Head Coach Ryan Earnest both have that mutual understanding.

“Each and every guy on this team, whether they played for us last year or not, they understand the importance of this game.” Said Vance.

“It’s a little more personal because I’m from Laurel, I played in a jug game as a high school football player, and I’ve coached in several of them. If you got it, you want to keep it. If you don’t have it you want to get it back.” Earnest added.

The Hattiesburg Tigers are a year removed from claiming the famous prize, in a 34-14 victory last season.

This year, the famous matchup is in Golden Tornado country at Watkins Stadium, also referred to as “Between the Bricks”

“We don’t have the jug so the motivation is to get it back obviously.” Earnest said.

“At the end of the day when the ball kicks off, it’s a football game. Those implications that exist outside of it, those are just external factors. We just wanna play good football, and if winning the jug is the by product, so be it.”

All in all, each head coach has gained perspective from their meetings.

It’s a game that takes precedence in the magnolia state.

“Not every coach in the state of Mississippi gets the opportunity that coach Earnest and I get tomorrow night.” Vance said.

“We’ve learned that lesson that first year, just how important that game is. Bragging rights on the line, it’s the ultimate bragging right prize in the state of Mississippi. It’s that lil’ brown jug, and we wanna do what it takes to bring it back to the city of Hattiesburg.”

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