Heritage Academy football coach Sean Harrison knows winning MAIS Class 5A, District 1 this year likely means going undefeated in division play.
That’s why it’s important to Harrison that his Patriots (1-1) put up a good showing in Friday’s district opener at home against Magnolia Heights (2-0). “Really a must-win, if there’s such a thing,” Harrison said.
The Pats beat the Chiefs 42-13 last year in Senatobia, but Heritage Academy lost a prized crop of 13 seniors while Magnolia Heights brought in some talented new players and returned most of last year’s team as well.
Chiefs quarterback Blake Kirby, a three-year starter, is back for his senior year, so it’ll be up to Heritage Academy’s secondary to keep Kirby and three standout receivers in check.
Do that, and Heritage Academy can say it’s passed its first test in Class 5A after a loss to Class 6A Jackson Prep in Week 1 was followed by a shutout of Class 4A Kirk Academy last Friday.
“We took a step forward last week against Kirk, and it’s still about us improving week in and week out,” Harrison said.
Caledonia at Amory
Running the football has been Caledonia’s identity under third-year coach Michael Kelly.
“That’s what we believe in doing here — just making it a physical football game,” Kelly said.
The run game — the key component of Caledonia’s “flex-bone” option offense — helped lead Kelly’s team to a 35-21 win over Amory last year, and Kelly knows it will be critical again for Friday’s road game against the Panthers.
“There’s no doubt we’ve got to be able to run the football on them,” Kelly said.
Kewon Wyatt and Darius Triplett will be Caledonia’s feature backs again as Kelly hopes his team will improve after last week’s scrimmage against rival New Hope.
“I hope they all just play together and just play a little better than they did last week, and I hope we’ll be a little bit better come this Friday night than what we were last Friday,” Kelly said.
West Lowndes at Kemper County
Getting off to a strong start in last season’s game against Class 3A Kemper County was the reason Class 1A West Lowndes survived to post a 36-34 win.
And once again, Panthers coach Anthony King said, his team will have to “hold on” to beat the Wildcats, who have a bigger roster and a better ability to spell their key players.
“We’re very worried about Kemper County,” King said. “They’ve got more depth than us.”
The Wildcats graduated senior quarterback De’Onte Rush, a “pretty tough” player in King’s view, and will have to replace him this year.
Still, King said it won’t be easy for West Lowndes to post back-to-back wins against a bigger program. The Panthers found success in last year’s game by keeping the intensity up the whole way through, and King will employ the same strategy Friday night in De Kalb.
“This year, we’ll have to do the same thing: try to play for four quarters,” King said.
Noxapater (0-0) at Starkville Academy (0-1)
When Starkville Academy hosted French Camp Academy last Friday, the Volunteers made efforts not to call the two-quarter exhibition contest a scrimmage or a jamboree.
Rather, they called it a game — just like any other, head coach Chase Nicholson said.
“They didn’t treat it like it was an early game,” Nicholson said. “They treated it like it was the second game of the season and the most important game of the week. It was.”
Starkville Academy won the contest 29-7 ahead of Friday’s home matchup with another MHSAA Class 1A school, Noxapater, and Nicholson hopes his team will treat the game with the same energy.
Against a Noxapater team that lost by one point in the state semifinals to eventual Class 1A champion Nanih Waiya last year, the Vols will need to bring it once again.
“They’re going to have weapons all over the field,” Nicholson said. “That’s who they are. Our job is to go out there, out-execute them and eliminate those weapons on every play.”
Starkville Academy won 22-7 last year at Noxapater, and Nicholson said this year’s contest should again show the Vols how it stacks up early on.
“We love the measuring stick they kind of give us on things we should improve upon on the football team,” he said.
Shannon at Noxubee County
Noxubee County hasn’t played a regular-season game yet, but the Tigers already feel like they’re headed in the right direction.
Coach Teddy Young said beating Louisville — a team likely to be picked to win the MHSAA Class 4A title this year — 14-7 in last week’s scrimmage is already a good sign.
“It just shows that potential to be a great team this year,” Young said.
If Noxubee County can tap into that potential again in Friday’s season opener against Shannon, they could be capable of a sizable victory.
The Tigers beat the Red Raiders 22-14 on the road last year, but this week’s game is in Macon. To limit a Shannon team returning its quarterback and several explosive players, Young said winning at the line of scrimmage is paramount.
“Our defense will have to come to play,” Young said.
Ben’s Ford Christian (1-1) at Hebron Christian (0-2)
Hebron Christian School learned an important lesson in last year’s 22-14 win over Ben’s Ford Christian School in Bogalusa, Louisiana.
Hebron got ahead early only to miss multiple opportunities to capitalize on Ben’s Ford turnovers and watch the opposing Eagles tighten the gap.
But coach David Foster and Hebron pulled away late to earn their first win of the season.
“We just kept fighting back after we finally figured out you can’t just play part of a game; you have to play the whole game,” Foster said.
Just like last year, Foster’s Eagles take an 0-2 record into their Week 3 district matchup with Ben’s Ford, and once again, Hebron is in sore need of a victory to straighten things out for the rest of the season.
“We need to get a win so we can go try to even this thing up,” Foster said.
Other games
New Hope at Houston
Lee (Ark.) Academy (1-1) at Columbus Christian Academy (0-2)
Two games canceled due to COVID-19 concerns
Oak Hill Academy and Pickens Academy (Alabama) won’t be playing their scheduled games Friday because of COVID-19 concerns with their opponents.
Oak Hill (0-1) was scheduled to host Newton County Academy (0-2), while Pickens (2-0) was supposed to play at Sparta Academy (1-1).
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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