The West Point High School football team has dominated play in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A, Region 1. However, West Point saw its region title slip away last season with a stunning loss at Center Hill.
This season’s Green Wave squad can make amends for that defeat when it plays host to Center Hill at 7 tonight at West Point’s Hamblin Stadium.
“Center Hill really got our attention last year,” West Point coach Chris Chambless said. “When you get caught up playing all of these long road trips, you can sometimes lose focus and come out a little flat. Fortunately, this year’s team has been really good with focus.
“They come out really emotionally involved in the game we are playing. Win or lose, they are always ready to come back out the next Monday ready to go again. We have some good leadership on this team.”
West Point is 6-2 and tied with Oxford for the region lead at 4-0. It will close the regular season against Center Hill and Oxford at home before traveling to New Hope.
Winners of the region title last season, Center Hill is 3-5 and 2-2. The Mustangs are tied for Saltillo for third in the region. The next three weeks will decide whether they can earn one of the region’s four playoff berths. West Point already has grabbed a playoff bid and is now zoning on the region title.
“We have played well through four region games but there is still a lot of work to be done,” Chambless said. “We saw how important winning the region is last year. Finishing second made the postseason road more difficult for us. We are going to try to play well again Friday night and hopefully that will carry over to the final two games.”
West Point continued its perfect start to region play last Friday with a 31-7 victory at Saltillo. At one time, the Tigers were 5-1, so they had the full attention of the Green Wave.
“Saltillo has some good players on both sides of the ball,” Chambless said. “It is important to get off to a good start on the road, and I thought we did just that.”
West Point built a 21-0 halftime lead behind two rushing touchdowns from Aeris Williams and another score from quarterback Tez Lane. Williams also scored a second-half touchdown and finished with 223 rushing yards.
Center Hill has battled back from a 0-2 start in the league with back-to-back region victories against Saltillo (21-20) and Clarksdale (28-13).
Humphreys Academy (6-2) at Hebron Christian (8-1)
The Eagles will try to cap the regular season on a positive note when they play host to the Rebels at 7 tonight in Pheba.
Hebron Christian saw its season-opening eight-game win streak snapped last week in a 40-12 loss at unbeaten Calhoun Academy.
“I really don’t know if I could have asked for a better group this year,” Hebron Christian coach David Foster said. “They did everything we asked of them. They have worked hard from the beginning of the season. Since we couldn’t go to the playoffs, we treated each game like a playoff game.”
Hebron Christian participated as a Mississippi Association of Independent Schools independent this season, making them ineligible for the postseason.
“We switched to eight-man football at the last minute last year, so we could only schedule seven games. This season, we played a full 10-game schedule. It has been challenging and rewarding. We had success because had some really good senior leaders step up.”
Will-Corben Rogers and Taylor Coggins scored the lone Hebron Christian touchdowns against Calhoun Academy. The Eagles led 6-0 before the hosts rallied for 14-6 halftime lead.
Once down 10 points to Kemper Academy, Hebron Christian rallied. On this night, there was no such answer, as the Eagles surrendered their biggest point total of the season.
Humphreys Academy defeated Lighthouse Christian last week. It has lost to Deer Creek Academy and Central Holmes Christian.
The teams didn’t meet last season.
Kirk Academy (3-6) at Oak Hill Academy (4-5)
The Raiders will play their final non-district game tonight when the Raiders play host to the Raiders in a 7 p.m. start in West Point. Oak Hill finishes its season next week with a MAIS Class AA, District 2 game at Immanuel Christian.
Oak Hill Academy saw its playoff hopes stuffed two weeks ago with a 42-0 loss to Leake Academy. However, Oak Hill Academy could win out and secure a winning season for the first time since 2006.
“Even though the playoffs are out of reach, we still have a lot to play for,” Oak Hill Academy coach Daniel Merchant said. “We have a lot of young players, so a winning season would be a real good building block for next season.”
Oak Hill Academy snapped a three-game losing streak last week with a 37-14 against public school foe New Site High School.
“We really needed something positive to happen to us,” Merchant said. “I am proud of the kids for continuing to work hard and continuing to believe.”
Drew Riley, Riley Pierce, Drake Riley, and Samuel Harrell each scored touchdowns. Pierce also hit Bradley Allen on a passing score.
Kirk Academy has dropped three straight games. It slipped to 1-3 in Class AA, District 1 play with last Friday’s 42-21 home loss to Indianola Academy.
Kirk Academy won last season’s meeting, 21-6.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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