Football season opens tonight for most MAIS schools, although the schedule shrank when Hebron Christian could not field a team because of numbers and Oak Hill Academy lost its opening game to COVID. But despite the lack of quantity, the few games to be played among local teams tonight provide interesting matchups which will tell us a lot about the teams right off the bat.
Starkville Academy (0-0) at Jackson Academy (0-0): The Raiders haven’t appeared often on the Volunteers’ schedule in recent years. Back in 2014, the Volunteers defeated the Raiders for the first time, and six years later the Raiders posted a 23-7 win. The teams were scheduled to play a year ago on the last week of the regular season, but that turned out to be the only game the Volunteers lost to the pandemic.
Both teams enter the season ranked among the best in
The Raiders feature Mississippi State commit Dakota Jordan at wide receiver, although they do have a new quarterback this season in Clayton White, who will look to fill the shoes of Jackson Conn, who threw for 1,449 yards with 17 touchdowns against six interceptions. White did see some playing time a year ago, throwing four touchdowns among his 40 pass attempts. How White does getting the ball to a talented group of playmakers will dictate the Raiders’ effectiveness on offense.
The Volunteers, meanwhile, have to replace CJ Jackson, who ended his high school career with 4,679 rushing yards in three seasons before taking his talents to Belhaven University. Third-year quarterback Randal Futral’s top target figures to be Brady Jackson, while Starkville Academy is led on defense by senior linebacker Colby Allen.
Heritage Academy (0-0) at Lamar (0-0): Two years ago, the Patriots crushed the Raiders 39-7 during their 14-0 championship season. Lamar was one of the three teams to get back at them a year ago, winning 31-14 in Meridian. The 31 points was the most the Patriots allowed after an opening loss to Jackson Prep. Motivation will not be an issue.
The bad news for Lamar is that everyone who did damage in that game is gone. Quarterback Will Morris, who threw for 269 yards and three scores, was a senior, as were all three backs who carried the ball for the Raiders. Five receivers caught passes for Lamar, and each was a senior. All seven players credited with all-purpose yards in that game graduated.
Heritage Academy boasts a top-20 prospect in the state in safety Wesley Miller, who picked Mississippi State from a dozen scholarship offers.
Christian Collegiate Academy (0-0) at Columbus Christian Academy (0-0): New coach Rusty Mason brings the Air Raid offense to the Rams, who certainly could use an offensive jolt. During a 1-10 season in 2020, CCA averaged fewer than 19 points per game, 15.4 per game without their lone win, a 54-34 victory over Kemper Academy. Those numbers would indicate a struggling offense in 11-man football. Mason expects some growing pains as his players learn his system, but even a rudimentary grasp of the offense should result in more production.
On the other side of the ball, there’s nowhere to go but up. The Rams allowed 42 points per game, not outrageous for eight-man football but a big problem considering their offensive woes. But the Bulldogs might be a good opening opponent for them. The Gulfport school went 3-6 last year and also had offensive issues, being held to fewer than 14 points four times. The one common opponent, Kemper Academy, were tougher on the Bulldogs, losing 48-42, than they were on the Rams. But they were young, and Christian Collegiate returns its top two rushers and top four receivers from 2020.
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