West Point (2-1) vs. Tupelo (2-1)
Brandon Harris scored five touchdowns for West Point last week in a shootout win over Starkville, but he doesn’t expect that to happen again.
Instead, the Green Wave star wants even more when Friday’s home game against Tupelo comes around.
“I plan on going and getting six or seven more,” Harris said.
Harris has got the talent, but so many scores may be tough to come by against a Class 6A Tupelo team that, West Point coach Chris Chambless repeatedly specified, is disciplined and well coached.
“We’ve got a huge challenge in front of us,” Chambless said. “We’re gonna have to play hard, play fast, tackle well, block well and do all the things you have to do to win football games.”
Harris said the Green Wave are still fixing the mistakes they made in their loss to Louisville earlier in the season. They won’t let a single loss — or a single win, for that matter — define them.
Two straight wins over Class 6A teams might go a long way in providing West Point with a definition. To get there, Chambless said, it’ll take constant improvement during practice, and the Green Wave are continually working.
After all, that’s the only way they’ll be able to notch another big win.
“They’re a good team, so we gotta have our head on right when we play anybody,” Harris said.
New Hope (1-2) at Itawamba Agricultural (3-0)
A crushing loss to Houston last week hasn’t quelled spirits inside the New Hope locker room.
“These guys are hungry right now,” coach Wade Tackett said. “They know how good they really are. They don’t think their record defines them right now.”
The Trojans are 1-2 heading into this weekend’s road matchup against Itawamba Agricultural (3-0), a team which Tackett said could pose New Hope problems when the Indians have the ball.
“They run a lot of different formations,” Tackett said. “They’ve got a big running back, a pretty good athlete, and they’ve got a quarterback that can win with his feet and his arm.”
So what will it take for the Trojans to get back to .500?
“We gotta hold onto the football and put a couple more drives together and make sure we’re prepared and contain their offense,” Tackett said.
West Lowndes (3-0) vs. Hamilton (1-2)
After a 3-0 start, West Lowndes’ season has begun anew.
That’s how coach Anthony King and the Panthers are feeling, anyway, as they face their first district game of the season Friday against Hamilton.
“Every win is going to be very important playing in this district,” King said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
The Panthers come in riding the high of last week’s comeback win over Kemper County, where West Lowndes scored late to grab a win and remain undefeated.
“When we got down, we didn’t give up,” King said. “Our guys have a lot of momentum going into this game.”
Against a power running team like Hamilton, there’s a clear recipe for success for the Panthers.
“I think we need to come out and play smart, cut down on the penalties that we had last week,” King said. “I think if we do that, we should be OK.”
Noxubee County (3-0) vs. Philadelphia (2-1)
Noxubee County’s defense has led the Tigers to three straight wins to start the season by posting two shutouts and allowing 14 total points. On Friday against Philadelphia, though, that stingy defense may be challenged more than ever this year.
The Tornadoes are “an explosive offensive team,” Noxubee County coach Teddy Young said, with a lot of speed on the field.
“They’re capable of hitting the home run play at any time,” Young said. “They tend to play fast. They get to the ball. They’re a very good team.”
For the Tigers to improve to 4-0, Young said, they’ll have to tackle and limit big plays on defense.
But it takes more than defense to win games, and Young knows it. On the other side of the ball, he said, Friday’s game will come down to one key factor.
“Offensively we’ve gotta learn how to put together drives,” Young said.
If the Tigers can start doing that with regularity, the sky might be the limit.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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