Grenada High School second-year head football coach Michael Fair knew that last Friday night’s Class 6A North State Championship contest against Warren Central in Vicksburg would be a defensive battle from the opening kickoff.
Despite being tied at 10 heading into the locker room at halftime, Fair felt like his Chargers had the upper hand. He was right.
“We knew that points were going to be a premium tonight,” he said on the frozen turf following the 23-10 victory. “The defense is so good and Warren Central had a lot of respect for those guys. I felt like our defense was kind of dialing in a little bit and I actually told our guys at halftime, I felt like, you know, that they had scored their last point, and if they did that, I felt like we were going to win this game. The kids came out and kind of proved me right on that. What a great effort by our guys. I mean, just up and down the whole roster; I think everybody pitched in. It was a huge team win for us.”
After a scoreless third quarter, the game took a crucial turn.
Offsetting personal foul penalties and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that resulted in the ejection of a Viking defender on the first play of the fourth quarter ignited the Chargers’ offense, which reeled off 13 unanswered points to break the tie and take control of the game. However, his team’s self-control impressed Fair as much as their effort on the field following the sideline skirmish.
“It was getting chippy and our kids just rose to the occasion while keeping their composure, which I thought was the biggest deal because that’s hard to do when the emotions are running so high,” Fair said. “You know, I say all the time — it’s hard to do — but you want to play with emotion and not on emotion. We played with a lot of emotion, but we didn’t do anything that really cost our team tonight, so I thought that was huge.”
In addition to flaring tempers, turnovers also plagued the Vikings in the second half, which were forced by Grenada’s determined defense.
“That’s us causing turnovers,” Fair said. “That’s a good football team; real good football team. They’re coached up. We just went out there and made some big time plays; stripped the ball.”
GHS running back Macaleb Taylor, who toted the pigskin 33 times for 236 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Chargers’ offense, then joined Fair’s post-game interview switching the conversation to offense.
“I thought in the second half this young man just really took over offensively,” Fair continued. “I’ve known him for a couple of years now and we all know he’s going to play hard, but he had a little something special in his eyes tonight. We just knew if we kept giving it to him, he was going to get in the end zone a time or two, and he did. I was also really proud of this offensive line.”
Grenada High School junior Ty Edwards returns a kickoff last Friday night against Warren Central as Drew Klinck follows closely behind him.
Taylor agreed.
“Oh yeah, the offensive line did their job tonight,” he said. “I knew they couldn’t stop me, so I kept going. I kept going downhill and they couldn’t grab me.”
The senior offensive standout, who eclipsed 2,500 yards rushing on the season during the game, also spoke about the fireworks to start the fourth quarter.
“You’ve got to have your maturity; you’ve got to handle it well,” Taylor added. “It was a tough environment and situation, but we got the win, so we’re going back to state.”
It was unknown at the time if Grenada would face Hattiesburg or Picayune in the title game, but Fair said that he was confident his team would be better prepared for the bright lights this season, having lost 23-3 in the championship game to West Jones last season at Ole Miss.
“It helps because these guys that we count on have been through it before and they understand the schedule, and they understand the importance,” Fair said. “Last year, we walked out in the stadium and we were kind of big-eyed and kind of let it get to us a little bit. Even though we played hard, we got beat by a good team. I think the experience will help us and I would think that our best week to practice is coming up in front of us.”
With the Chargers’ final season goal in sight, Fair said that the team’s North Title celebration will be short lived.
“These guys understand,” he said. “We’re enjoying this and we need to, but there’s a big gold ball waiting on one (team) next week and we want to get that trophy.”
Fair added that the success of Grenada High’s football team over the last two years is a testament to several factors.
“A lot’s going right,” he concluded. “We’ve got a great school district, we’ve got a wonderful student body, our parents and community support this football team like no place that I’ve ever been and it’s a lot of fun being a part of it, so we don’t have a little going right, we’ve got a lot going right in Grenada.”
The Chargers will take on Hattiesburg High at 7 p.m. Saturday at the University of Southern Mississippi.
