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Falling behind in the first half, as the Jaguars have done over the past two seasons, wouldn't cut it this time, he told them.
His teammates didn't heed Amlett's advice, but it didn't matter. Ridgeland fought off a 16-point deficit in the second half to earn its first victory of the season, a 44-33 win over the Seahawks, in the two teams' second shootout in as many years.
"I guess we always want to be a second-half team," Amlett said. "I was trying to get them hyped before the game so we were ready to go. But we just want to be a second-half team."
The Jaguars rushed for 467 yards and six touchdowns -- five in the second half -- to spoil the Seahawks' best offensive effort of the season and keep them winless in three games.
Hilton Head High defeated Ridgeland last season, 49-42.
Amlett was just one of many spark plugs to ignite Ridgeland's offense after the break. As part of the three-headed monster in the Jaguars backfield, he carried 15 times for 134 yards and a pair of touchdowns -- one of which came after he was carried off the field by two coaches midway through the third quarter because of leg cramps.
With Amlett out for a pair of drives, Jerry Scott shouldered the load with three second half touchdowns and 165 rushing yards. The shifty, quick-footed running back broke through numerous arm tackles on his way to answering every Hilton Head High score with a long gain.
The Jaguars totaled 288 yards in the second half -- all on the ground.
"We couldn't stop them. Had no answer," Seahawks coach Tim Singleton said. "Very disappointing. Very, very disappointing. We have to do a better job as coaches, bottom line."
Despite the holes in the rush defense, the Seahawks still had their chances.After Ridgeland took a 32-24 lead in the third quarter -- its first lead of the game -- the Seahawks bounced back with nine straight points to regain the lead in the final quarter.
Sophomore quarterback Michael Julian found Desmond Bush in the end zone for the second time in the game to open the fourth quarter before Weston Mott's second field goal of the game gave the Seahawks a 33-32 lead with 8 minutes to play.
But Scott scored on runs of 28 and 43 yards over the next six minutes to ice the Jaguars' win.
"We weren't going to lose tonight," Scott said. "We came out (from) halftime ready to go. We came out strong. (Quarterback Xavier Capers) started us up with that TD and it was over from there."
Capers added 136 yards on the ground and a 69-yard touchdown run that started the Jaguars' second-half scoring.
The Seahawks matched Ridgeland's offensive output for three quarters but sputtered in their last three drives, one of which resulted in their fourth turnover of the game.
Julian started the game 11 for 25 -- and passed for the first three touchdowns of his career -- but he completed only one of his last 11 pass attempts and fumbled the snap on fourth down with the Seahawks driving in Jaguars territory for a potential go-ahead score with less than three minutes to play.
"It's growing pains. It's real hard to swallow," Singleton said. "I thought we'd have our coming out party tonight, but instead it looks we have to make some wholesale changes on both sides of the ball, especially one side."
