All six area football teams will be in division play this week as four of the five MHSAA schools open division play.
Union will travel to Southeast Lauderdale, Sebastopol will travel to Vardaman while Newton will travel to Nanih Waiya. Lake will host Kemper County while Newton County will host Richland and Newton County Academy will host Kemper Academy.
Here’s a look at this week’s games:
Union at Southeast Lauderdale
Union will hit the road to open Division 5-3A play as they travel to Southeast Lauderdale.
The Tigers are 0-5 on the season with losses to Heidelberg (18=14), West Harrison (37-0), Northeast Lauderdale (35-21), West Lauderdale (47-6) and Kemper. County (48-13).
“They are a team that is well coached and the coaches do a great job with them,” Union coach Jordan Wren said. “It wasn’t a strong culture when he got there but the kids are starting to buy in. He’s building a program and holding kids accountable. They are full of athletes and anytime you play a team like that, it’s never going to be a comfortable game. This one is the one that matters. All the rest have been practice.”
Sebastopol at Vardaman
The Bobcats will head north to sweet potato country to take on the one-loss Rams.
Vardaman is 4-1 with wins over Myrtle (42-0), Bruce (42-14), Coffeeville (42-20) and Noxapater (28-21). Their lone loss was to East Webster (31-21).
“They beat a good Noxapater team last week and are 1-0 in division and it will be a big-time division matchup. We’ve got to see how we handle the long road trip up there. They are really sound on both sides of the ball and do some good things. It should be another good division battle for us between two good teams. They have a really big running back and they throw it well. They are really balanced on offer. I think we have more speed than Tem so it should be a good one.”
Kemper at NCA
The Generals continue in district play as they take on one-win Kemper on Friday night.
The Rams are 1-5 on the season with losses to Porter’s Chapel (55-12), Christian Collegiate (60-6), Columbus Christian (50-0), Calhoun (56-22) and Prentiss (40-0). Their lone win game against Discovery Christian (52-6).
“I don’t know a lot about them but I know coach Steve Cheatham is the new coach over there and he knows what he is doing,” NCA coach Stevie Nelson said. “They are lacking in numbers and have struggled. We are in the final four games of the regular season and will have to play some snaps to keep some timing and conditioning.”
Kemper County at Lake
The Hornets will open division 5-2A play as they take on Kemper County, who won 5-2A last year.
The Wildcats are 1-3 on the season with losses to Louisville (54-0), Forest (32-22) and Kemper County (60-0). They beat Southeast Lauderdale 48-13 last week.
“From what I have seen, they are very explosive but not as strong in the run game as they were last year but still a very good football team,” Lake coach Tate Hanna said. “They are well coached and have done a good job. With coach (Freeman) Jimerson have coached here, I expect them to come in and play us hard. It’s homecoming for us so we have all of that to deal with as well.”
Newton at Nanih Waiya
The Tigers will open 5-2 play as they head to Winston County to take on Nanih Waiya.
The Warriors are 1-4 on the season with losses to Noxapater (27-6), East Webster (55-3), Choctaw Central (26-6) and French Camp (28-20). Their lone win was against Bruce (27-8) last week.
“They are going to run power right at you and make you stop the run,” Newton coach Zach Grady. “We have to get on the road and get there. I watched them play against Noxapater earlier this year. They have a good quarterback and a big running back. They don’t have the athletes they have had but it doesn’t matter. They will play hard.”
Richland at Newton County
The Cougars will try to get back on track as they host Richland on Friday night.
The Rangers are 3-2 on the season with wins over Wingfield (20-14), McLaurin (41-6) and Pisgah (39-20). Their losses are to Florence (42-0) and Franklin County (19-7).
“They have some skill guys who are going to test us,” Newton County coach Bobby Bass said. “If we don’t play very hard, we will get beat again. If they don’t play hard, we will go 1-8 this year I guess. We’ve just got to play with more effort.”
