A familiar face will make his way to Raider Field this Friday night when Kirk Academy meets Indianola in a Class AAAA, District 1 matchup.
Longtime Midsouth Association of Independent Schools football coach Tommy Nester brings his Indianola Academy Colonels to Grenada. Nester is with his fourth school during his 27 years as a high school head coach and is 222-101 overall. He has won state titles at Indianola and Oak Hill as a head coach, and Pillow Academy as an assistant coach.
This season, Nester’s Colonels are 2-4 following a 26-3 loss at home to Carroll Academy last week. Indianola has wins over Washington School (28-27) and Delta Streets of Greenwood (36-0).
“We came into the season with an inexperienced bunch,” Nester said. “This team has played good defense and has shown overall improvement. Offensively, we are struggling to get any consistency.”
The struggles up front can be directly tied to the fact that Indianola has only six linemen that forces them to play on both sides of the football.
The Colonels are led by Connor Roncali, a 5-foot-9-inch, 185-pound senior running back. Lawson Zapponi, a 6-foot-2-inch, 190-pound junior is the first year starting quarterback for IA.
“I’ve been pleased with our effort,” Nester said. “We’ve played hard throughout the season. Last week, our defense played well – the touchdowns they scored came on a fumbled punt, a fumble return and a punt return. We just can’t give away points because we aren’t that explosive offensively. I feel like we have some good talent. At times, I think we doubt ourselves.”
The Kirk Academy Raiders bring a 1-5 mark into Friday’s contest following last week’s 42-21 home loss to Oak Hill. Defensive coordinator Stephen Crenshaw said some injuries have limited the Raiders particularly on defense.
“We played most of the second half last week with 13 to 14 players due to injuries,” Crenshaw said. “If we aren’t able to get them back, we are going to be limited in what we can do.”
Crenshaw knows the Colonels will be well coached, down year or not.
“You know from the start, they are going to be well coached,” he said. “They will run the I-formation, dives, leads, along with counters and play action passes. Defensively, they have run a 4-3 look lately. It will be a challenge particularly with our numbers how they are currently.”
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. Friday night. The game will be the annual Pink Out Night as part of the upcoming Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed the month of October.
