WEST POINT – Chris Chambless has no time to feel sorry for his football team.
Not with so much still at stake.
When West Point High dropped its home finale a week ago, a 20-15 loss to New Hope, the season didn’t end for the Green Wave. It only felt that way.
Now, entering tonight’s season finale on the road at Region 1, Division 5A foe Lewisburg, Chambless and the Wave have to find a way to bounce back for the first time in over a month.
“Last week is over,” said Chambless. “We can’t dwell on it. New Hope won that football game and we give them all the credit in the world. But the season isn’t over. It’s up to us to determine just how much season we have left.”
While West Point missed on the opportunity to host a Class 5A playoff game when it lost to New Hope, the Wave can still gain homefield advantage in the second round with a win at Lewisburg tonight and a road win at the No. 2 seed out of Region 2-5A tonight. That team will be determined with Ridgeland hosts Germantown tonight, with the winner earning a visit from West Point.
For the Green Wave (7-4), that starts with tonight’s trip to DeSoto County to take on a Lewisburg (4-7) team that has lost four straight. But the Patriots, who lost 42-40 to division foe Saltillo a week ago, have been competitive on a weekly basis, scoring at least 20 points in six of seven 1-5A games.
“They can definitely score points,” said Chambless. “There’s nothing easy about any district game, they can all beat you on any given night. If we go up there thinking about last week, that’s how you get beat. Last week has to be behind us.”
In Lewisburg, West Point’s defense, which forced two interceptions against New Hope and has held district opponents to just 13 points per game after a loss to Oxford, will lock horns with a Patriots’ offense that follows the lead of junior quarterback Jake Harville.
Harville has thrown for 2,563 yards this season and 28 touchdowns while he has added 148 carries for 794 yards and 13 scores.
“He’s a very good high school quarterback,” Chambless said of Harville.
For Chambless, though, tonight’s visit, which kicks off at 7 p.m., isn’t about Lewisburg. Instead, it’s about a West Point team that needs to galvanize after last week’s loss, a setback that saw New Hope take the lead for good with just 27 seconds remaining in the game.
“We have had a good week of practice,” said Chambless. “We have been banged up, have had a lot of adversity to fight through. But we are battling. I wouldn’t trade these kids for anybody.”
Part of that adversity has come in the form of injuries, including a game-changer against New Hope. Senior tailback Kadarius Forside had already accounted for 107 yards and a 54-yard touchdown for West Point before leaving the game with an apparent head injury late in the second quarter. Forside’s injury, and subsequent absence, spelled doom for the Wave against the Trojans.
Now, less than a week later, Forside is questionable for the trip to Lewisburg, leaving the offensive burden to senior quarterback Dason Thomas and a host of other options.
“We can’t get down about it,” said Thomas after the loss. “All that matters is how we respond.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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