WEST POINT — It’s nearly time.
Everitt Cunningham can hardly contain himself. After waiting ever since his freshman season, the West Point senior finally will get to play for a state championship at 7 p.m. Saturday when West Point (13-1) takes on Laurel (13-1) in the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 5A State title game at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium.
“I know my team is going to come through for me,” Cunningham said. “I am really pumped up for this game, my last week dressing up in green and white. I just have to show up and play for my team and for my school.”
Cunningham and many of his teammates have talked this season about using losses to Oxford in the regular season and in the playoffs the last two seasons as motivation this season.
Junior quarterback/running back Marcus Murphy said the Green Wave used the memory of those losses to fuel their weight lifting sessions in the offseason. He also said coaches weren’t afraid to remind the players about the sting of those losses and how they extended the program’s run without a state championship to six years.
Tomorrow, all of the talk will cease and the Green Wave will focus solely on winning the program’s first title since 2010.
“I am not going to stop until I have a ring on my finger,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham said he won’t exhale until his hands are wrapped around the gold ball, the trophy that is given to the state champion. Cunningham might have dibs on the trophy considering he is a two-way starter for the Green Wave, but he also might have to size to box out his teammates because there will be plenty of hands looking to get a first taste of that hardware.
Murphy, who leads the Green Wave in rushing (1,615 yards) and touchdowns (22), will be a prime candidate to get his hands on the trophy first. Before he does that, though, he knows he and his teammates will have to stay focused against an opponent that rallied from a 27-10 deficit last week to win the South State championship.
“It means a lot to all of West Point because we haven’t been there since 2010,” Murphy said. “To get there this year is just a blessing. It feels good to get to the state championship game. Now, we just have to handle our business.”
Murphy has scored at least one touchdown in all of West Point’s wins this season. Murphy was scoreless in a 28-6 loss to Starkville on Sept. 2. Since then, West Point has run off 12-straight victories. It has scored 34 or more points in its last eight wins.
Senior quarterback Clayton Knight gives West Point an option to throw the football to balance Murphy’s productivity. Knight has thrown for 1,292 yards and 15 touchdowns. Demarrio Edwards (34 catches, five touchdowns) and Jason Brownlee (30 catches, 10 touchdowns) are the team’s leading receivers.
“This is what we practiced for and worked for all year,” Knight said. “We are going to leave our legacy. David Wade Stadium next week. Come out and support us.”
The return of junior running back Chris Calvert from a concussion has given the Green Wave another weapon. Calvert and senior running back Andre Lane also rushed for touchdowns last week in a 40-7 victory against Region 1 rival Lake Cormorant. That game was tied 7-7 at halftime.
“It is a real hard offense to handle,” Calvert said. “We have a quarterback who can run and a quarterback who can throw and run. We have a lot of versatile backs. Then we have wide receivers who are good who can block and go up and get the ball, like Jason Brownlee and Mario (Edwards). We also have Andre Lane who can tote the ball, too, so we have a lot of weapons.”
Combine all of those weapons with a defense that has held opponents to 20 or fewer points in every game except one and coach Chris Chambless knows his team is in a good place. He knows his team will have to find a way to slow down Laurel’s passing game, but he feels good about his team’s chances. He said the offense has clicked so well because the players trust in each other. He expects that to continue on both sides of the ball Saturday.
“We have a lot of respect for Laurel,” Chambless said. “We have been working to contain their quarterback (senior Tyquan Ulmer) and cover for more than four seconds because it is going to have to happen.”
Ulmer has thrown for 3,162 yards and 41 touchdowns. He also has run for 982 yards and five touchdowns. Chambless joked earlier in the week he was going to try to come up with an agreement with Laurel coach Todd Breland so the Golden Tornadoes would run the ball and the Green Wave would throw the ball. Chambless said Wednesday the coaches didn’t work out a deal to change things up, so you’re bound to see plenty of throws by the Golden Tornadoes and plenty of runs for the Green Wave.
“It is to the point now where we’re anxious to get it going,” Chambless said. “We both want our teams to play well.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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