Friday Night Lights this week sees one team at home in Grenada and the other on the road in the Mississippi Delta.
The Grenada High School Chargers return home after a two-week hiatus from Charger Stadium hosting Murrah High School. Kirk Academy heads to Greenville to face Class AAAAA member Washington School.
Ashley Kuhn’s Chargers, (4-2, 0-2), have lost road region contests to Tupelo (35-6) and Madison Central (35-0). They face a Mustang team from Jackson, which stands 1-5 overall and 0-2 inside the Region 2.
“They are very athletic and can cause us some problems defensively,” Kuhn said. “Offensively, they like to spread you out and throw the football.”
Kuhn is led defensively by linebacker Jalon Townes, who averages 11 tackles a contest. Dtrevion Parker is second on the tackle chart with just over nine stops a night.
After struggling in the opening division games, Kuhn’s team heads down the final five weeks of the regular season looking to get into the win column in region play.
“It would be nice to get to five wins overall and get that first win in region play,” he said. “No question it is a big game for us. We need to be able to defend our home field.”
Despite being shutout last Friday night, the 11th year GHS coach saw some areas of improvement.
“We saw improvement on penalties and turnovers last week,” he said. “We need to carry that effort over to this week.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Kirk Academy
The Raiders will attempt for the third time in a row to pick up their fifth win of the 2021 season as they travel to Washington School. Once a proud program, the Generals haven’t produced a winning season since a 9-3 worksheet back in 2015 – the year they won the Class AAAA state championship.
Mike Beagle’s Raiders are coming off a heart-breaking 43-42 overtime road contest with Indianola. The second-year head coach knows that his team can’t look past the Generals despite their 1-5 mark.
“They have some personnel that can cause you some problems,” Beagle said. “Their quarterback is healthy and provides them with a running and throwing threat. In order for us to get on track, we must compliment each other on offense and defense. We have to tackle better and get off blockers.”
Beagle pointed to a couple of different reasons for road losses at Oak Hill and at Indianola Academy. The Raiders find themselves in a battle for one of the Top 12 seeds in the upcoming Class AAAA Playoffs.
“We just didn’t play well at Oak Hill,” he concluded. “Last week against Indianola, we had a hard time getting off the field on third down defensively. We need more three and outs on defense and need to start faster on offense.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Greenville.
