Columbus football coach Joshua Pulphus knows the importance of Friday’s home game against Grenada for a team trying hard to qualify for the postseason.
“Grenada is a playoff team,” Pulphus said. “In order for us to reach our goal this year of trying to make it to the playoffs, we have to beat those teams.”
The Chargers boast a few future Division I athletes, an explosive offense and a defense that limits big plays — a combination that has led a 4-2 record with losses to Oxford and Lafayette.
“Grenada does a really good job of being disciplined and being in the right place at the right time offensively and defensively,” Pulphus said.
Even after the Falcons’ home loss to Center Hill last week, Pulphus said, morale has been high around the Columbus program, largely thanks to the fan support the team has seen this year.
“The kids know as well as the community that any time you win two games in two years that it doesn’t change overnight,” Pulphus said. “Winning doesn’t change overnight. It takes time. The kids were excited to see the community support.”
Pulphus expects a big turnout for the game against Grenada — it’s a critical game, after all.
“This is a playoff game,” Pulphus said. “So this is good practice.”
Heritage Academy (8-0) vs. Lamar (6-2)
Last season, Heritage Academy suffered a 42-41 road loss to Lamar in Meridian. This year, with the Raiders visiting the Patriots’ home turf Friday, Heritage Academy coach Sean Harrison knows the challenge Lamar will give his undefeated team.
“They’re a really good, solid team,” Harrison said. “We’re gonna have to play and execute really well.”
The Raiders’ two losses are to teams Heritage Academy has beaten — Jackson Prep and Tuscaloosa Academy — but Harrison downplayed the importance of the matchups, particularly Lamar’s game against Tuscaloosa in the first week of the season in Montgomery, Alabama.
“I don’t put a lot of stock in that loss,” Harrison said. “Lamar was breaking a lot of new kids in.”
That includes junior quarterback Will Morris, who has a dangerous target in receiver Jacob Partridge. The duo should pose a threat to the Patriots’ secondary.
“Our secondary has shown in the past couple weeks that they’re really good, and this is just another test for them,” Harrison said.
Harrison compared Lamar to the Patriots’ opponent last week, Pillow Academy, the No. 5 team among Mississippi private schools. But Heritage Academy won that game, after all, and has the talent to move to 9-0.
West Point (6-1) at Lake Cormorant (4-2)
West Point coach Chris Chambless knows the weather is likely to play a part when the Green Wave visit district rival Lake Cormorant on Friday.
The team has prepared as it best can this week with wet ball drills, but Chambless knows how the Green Wave ultimately perform depends on something more.
“It’s more of a mental thing than anything,” Chambless said. “It’s all about not letting rain or the wet ball or anything affect you mentally.”
West Point will have to rely on its ground game even more on a wet grass field, but Brandon Harris and the Green Wave thrive in the rushing game. The host Gators, Chambless said, employ a 50/50 run-pass balance, so that could give West Point an advantage. But Lake Cormorant, which comes off a 34-0 shutout at New Hope, is still a good team, and Chambless knows it.
“They’re a hard-nosed, smash-mouth football team like we are, so it’s going to be a very physical, good game,” Chambless said.
The Green Wave always treat the next game on their schedule like the biggest game of the season, but Friday’s truly might be one of the biggest in terms of its impact on playoff seeding. All West Point can do is take care of business on the road.
“We know Lake Cormorant presents a big challenge for us,” Chambless said. “We want to keep winning to keep that home-field advantage in the playoffs.”
Starkville Academy (5-2) at Bayou Academy (1-6)
The best Monday practice the Starkville Academy has had all year came after last Friday’s loss to Pillow.
The Volunteers came in Sunday to watch film of their next opponent, Bayou Academy, and they came out prepared the following day. Starkville Academy coach Chase Nicholson knows the Vols won’t overlook the 1-6 Colts, who he said still pose a challenge, and the players are fully aware.
“They’re gonna do what they do,” Nicholson said. “They’re gonna trust their scheme. They’re gonna trust their mentality. They’re gonna trust who they are, and they’re gonna keep doing that. They’re improving every single day.”
Starkville Academy will have to do what it always does after a loss: just put it behind them and move on.
“‘That was last week,'” Nicholson told the team. “‘We’re 0-0 this week. Let’s just go play Bayou and forget about it.'”
Caledonia (3-3) vs. Mooreville (4-3)
Caledonia coach Michael Kelly sees the similarities between his team and Mooreville, the Confederates’ opponent Friday.
Both teams have improved since last year, and both enter Friday’s contest hoping for a district win.
But the stakes now couldn’t be more different: Mooreville was placed on restrictive probation on Sept. 26 after players and coaches left the field early in a loss to New Albany, meaning the Troopers are ineligible for this year’s playoffs.
Still, Caledonia knows it can’t afford to overlook a solid district opponent, especially one with the effective pass offense Mooreville runs.
“We’ll have to play very well defensively and in the secondary and be where we’re supposed to be,” Kelly said.
If the ‘Feds can manage that and hit on some big plays in their own option offense, they could find themselves with a win that would even up their division record after last week’s loss at Shannon.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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