NEW HOPE — Last Friday was a deflating one for New Hope, a team that had just come off its first loss of the season to Itawamba Agricultural, looking to change the tides against local rival Columbus.
The Falcons, who came into the game winless, didn’t let a bad start to their season get in the way of ending a five-game winning streak against the Trojans all time.
What ensued was a defensive slugfest that in 15 seconds was turned on its head. When the smoke cleared, Columbus emerged victorious, an 8-3 win.
New Hope (2-2) doesn’t want to replicate what happened against the Falcons, but against West Point (2-2) this Friday, it will be no easy task.
“We’ve had some offensive issues, especially with penalties,” New Hope head coach Seth Stillman said. “I don’t think we’ve played poorly on offense this year; we just have to clean up the little stuff.”
Penalties were ever so important against Columbus, a game decided in the fourth quarter by just five points.
In general, playing a clean game on the offensive side of the ball can very much determine the final outcome.
This week especially, the focus has been put on cleaning up those smaller things and transitioning toward a more flawless game, or as flawless of a game as the Trojans can throw out there.
“We have to do it more in practice,” Stillman said. “We have to put our guys in situations during practice so they can rely on their coaching and their training so they don’t falter at those times during a game.”
New Hope will be put to the test early against West Point, a team that the Trojans are just 3-25 against all time and have lost five straight to, including two consecutive shutouts heading into Friday.
West Point got itself back to the .500 mark with an impressive 59-35 win over Lafayette last Friday. After failing to score more than 20 points in its first two games, the Green Wave have awoken offensively and are hungry to strike.
“We had a big game last week and we know that, but we’re going to keep the guys humble, stay humble as coaches and take it one game at a time,” West Point head coach Chris Chambless said.
The run game is one that both teams rely on and have had success with this season, but the run game will also be one of the most focused on areas for Friday’s game.
West Point has a trio of rushers who can each put up 100 or more rushing yards a game in the same game, and on New Hope’s side, LaDarius Tate has been carrying the freight for the Trojans.
It creates an interesting dynamic to see two of the same playing styles going at each other, but at that point, it comes down to who is the more physical team at the end of the day.
“We preach carry-over and coming off the win last week, we just want to build off it each and every week,” West Point linebacker Jhace Mallard said. “The game plan for us is always to stop the run first and go from there.”
Being able to stop the run is easier said than done and who wants it more will come out victorious in the end.
Making plays, getting stops and catching the opponent off guard, while as simple as it sounds, are going to be the difference-makers in what is going to be a closely contested game between two great programs.
“The intensity has been high,” New Hope safety/quarterback Alex Dawkins said. “We’re trying to not look at what the words say on their jerseys; we’re going to play them like any other team. We’re just going to try to be more physical than them to win the game.”
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