The non-conference season is over for both the Tupelo Golden Wave and the Grenada Chargers. Both football teams finished non-division play with perfect 4-0 marks.
This Friday night, the two teams will open Class 6A, Region 2 play at Charger Stadium in Grenada.
“Tupelo is as good as advertised – a Top 5 team in Mississippi,” Grenada head coach Ash-ley Kuhn said. “They are big and athletic on both sides of the football and are very well coached.”
The Chargers are also in a numbers battle with the Golden Wave, which has more than 2,300 students compared to a 1,000 for Grenada. It’s a difference that gives Tupelo a decided advantage against some of the teams they play.
“They have a few SEC-caliber athletes on their squad,” Kuhn said. “On offense, they have a 6-foot-7 tackle, along with a 6-foot-7 defensive tackle. They are ahead offensively of where they were last season. Defensively, they create a lot of havoc.”
Last season, Tupelo won a 35-6 decision over Grenada. In that game, Grenada was driving for the go-ahead score trailing 7-6 in the second period. The Golden Wave returned a fumble 93 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-6 and added three more scores for the win. Added to the defensive touchdown, Grenada lost starting quarterback Jaylon Skinner to a broken hand in the contest in the second period.
“The turnover on the goal line was a big momentum shift in the game,” Tupelo head coach Ty Hardin said. “It seemed to snowball after that for them.”
Hardin says he really doesn’t know how good his team is despite being 4-0. They have wins over Lafayette (34-0), Saltillo (55-0), Corinth (42-10) and Columbus (28-6).
“We really don’t know how good we are at this point,” he said. “We led Columbus 28-0 at half and had played really good on defense. We came out the second half and played lethargic; I guess our guys would rather have got on the bus and we didn’t finish the game well. Grenada is probably the best team we have played to date.”
Hardin begins his third season as the head coach of the Golden Wave. Most coaches would love to coach in the largest school district in the state. Hardin says it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
“There are a lot of pros and cons to coaching at Tupelo,” he said. “We have a really nice stadium, but our weight room isn’t as good as Grenada’s. There has always been some sense of entitlement at Tupelo. We have worked to change that culture.”
Being the biggest school gives opponents extra incentive when they play Tupelo.
“The numbers are always hyped up – truth is we have a major target,” Hardin said. “We tell our players that no one likes us and what are we going to do about it.”
Junior Jeremiah Harrell (6-foot-3, 189-pounds) operates the Golden Wave offense at quarterback. He is 61-of-90 for 891 yards and 11 touchdowns with just one interception so far this season. His favorite receiver is senior K.D. Gibson (6-foot-2, 178-pounds), who has 13 catches for 295 yards and two touchdowns. Junior J.Q. Witherspoon (5-foot-9, 155-pounds) is second on the teams in yardage with 11 receptions for 186 yards. Senior Daelyn Patton (6-foot-2, 215-pounds) has 12 receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns.
Tupelo splits its running backs between juniors Qua Middlebrooks (170) and Jaboree Dooley (175).
Mississippi State commit junior Isaiah Alexander (6-foot-7, 318-pounds) anchors the offensive line for the Golden Wave. Junior Mike Wallace (6-foot-2, 272-pounds) has also been solid on the offensive line. Freshman defensive tackle JaRaylen McCoy (6-foot7, 250-pounds) has a total of seven scholarship offers.
Defensively, Tupelo is led by linebacker Tristen Jernigan and Clifton Watkins with 29 tack-les each.
Grenada will be looking for consistent play from its offensive group that is coming off a two-turnover performance in last week’s 12-7 win at DeSoto Central.
“We are going to have to prepare better than we have been doing,” offensive coordinator Justin Purvis said earlier this week. “Tupelo has an outstanding defense and we need to be able to balance what we do against them. It will be a challenge.”
Grenada is expected to get sophomore McCaleb Taylor after missing last week due to a concussion. He has rushed for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Jhordan During leads the way with 310 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively, senior Jalon Townes leads the Chargers with 38 total tackles. Jahmani Washington, a sophomore, has 20 tackles. Senior linebacker Tre Parker has a total of 14 tackles.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. at Charger Stadium. The game is dubbed as the annual Wounded Warrior Contest where members of the military are honored prior to the start of the game.
