Like life, football is a learning experience.
Coming off a season-opening win over Pine Bluff (Ark.), the Grenada Chargers stumped their toe in a 32-26 road loss on the road against Winona. They took those learning experiences into last week’s road game in Oxford and came away with a 31-28 victory over the Class 7A Chargers.
This week, Coach Michael Fair hopes his team takes the lessons learned last Friday night into this week’s home game with the class 7A Clinton Arrows.
“I thought we looked pretty good against Pine Bluff,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe we started reading some headlines and we didn’t play very well the next week. It was important to learn as a young football team that you better stay grounded. We have an opportunity to show some maturity this week by handling a big win with another one behind it.”
One of the areas that was big in last week’s win over Oxford was the Chargers special teams. Senior Jekerious Williams shined with punt return touchdowns of 72 and 84 yards. Sophomore Michael Cavanaugh added a 38-yard field in the contest.
“To go out and perform like we did in the special teams area against one of the best coached special teams unit in the state is a credit to our players,” Fair said. “We spend a lot of time on special teams in practice and you see that on Friday nights. An area of special teams that goes unnoticed is the long snapper position unless you don’t have one. We feel like we have a quality person there in Carson Honeycutt.”
Fair has continued to see improvement in his new offensive scheme, which was installed when he arrived as head coach back in February. Like most teams, Grenada strives to be balanced with the run and pass as the players begin to be more comfortable in the new offense.
“It’s a process,” Fair explained. “Sometimes it doesn’t go at the pace we want it to go. I see things in our run game that I feel good about. Against Oxford, if we don’t throw the football like we did, I don’t know if we win the game. The system is in, but we are not at the point where we can stay consistent no matter the opponent. We are getting there. Our offensive coaches meet every day after practice and we talk about how inconsistent we are in the game – in the same breath you can see us getting better every day. We have the talent and people in place to make it happen.”
The passing game has been led by senior quarterback Charlie Fair getting the ball to the likes of seniors Jayveon Herron, Shane Rosenthal and DruDarius Barnes, along sophomore Zayion Cotton. Grenada will also throw to the running backs to keep opposing defenses honest.
“Our receivers are getting better each week even though we had a couple of drops last week – those are going to fix themselves,” Fair said. “Charlie is improving, getting us in an out of plays depending on what the defense is giving us to put us in the best position to be successful.”
Grenada has begun to develop some depth that was shown in last week’s win over Oxford.
“We had guys step up the entire night,” Fair said. “At linebacker, we played five or six players,and played five or six defensive linemen, and several defensive backs. We were rolling receivers in and out all night; played six offensive linemen and two tight ends. Friday, we always talk about the next man up and all of our guys played well. We feel good where we are at right now.”
Clinton is 0-3 on the season and has been decimated with injuries. Judd Boswell, who is in his 12th season at the Hinds County school, hasn’t seen anything like this in his career.
“We have won a bunch of games since we have been at Clinton and have been blessed with few injuries,” Boswell said. “I have seen nothing like this.”
The Arrows possess some of the best team speed that the Chargers will face this season. Grenada has some speed of its own to counter Clinton and will need it according to Fair.
“We have some pretty good speed on our defense,” Fair said. “That part of our defense will be needed more than against Clinton than most teams we play. They will run some type of zone option with the quarterback having the option to give it, keep it or throw it. It’s modern-day triple option football. They are built on getting the ball to their guys in space. It will be a challenge for our guys.”
Despite the injuries, Fair expects the Arrows will be ready to play.
“I’ve known Judd for a long time,” Fair concluded. “His team will come in here and give us all we can handle.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Charger Stadium.
