Grenada County high school football resumes tonight, Friday, Sept. 10, as both the Kirk Academy Raiders and Grenada Chargers return to the gridiron.
Mike Beagle’s Raiders (2-1, 1-0) will host Class AAAA, District 1 foe Clarksdale Lee (0-3,) and Ashley Kuhn’s Chargers look to improve to 3-0 on the season as they travel to Hernando to face the Class 6A, Region 1 Tigers, which are 2-1 on the season. The Tigers’ season opener with Rosa Fort was forfeited due to COVID-19 and replaced with Neshoba Central. Hernando lost that game by a score of 38-6.
The Colts from Clarksdale have lost to Magnolia Heights (13-6), Indianola (44-20) and Benton (41-20). They are coached by former Kirk Academy assistant coach and later head coach Rick Johnston, who coached at the private school from 2009-11.
Beagle said offense is the key to the Raiders’ success tonight.
“Offensively, we need to have more consistency, both run and pass,” he said Friday morning. “We need to cut down on concentration penalties and mistakes that keep us from scoring. Defensively, we need to stop the run game. We need to improve in the kicking game and be able to flip the field. It’s a very important game for us.”
Senior tailback A.J. Wren averaged more than 200 yards rushing in the first two games. He was held to 54 yards on 19 carries in last week’s 7-0 win at North Delta.
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Raider Field.
The Grenada Chargers are coming off a 24-19 win over Class 4A opponent Pontotoc on the road last week after a season-opening home win against Horn Lake (14-8). GHS is led by senior tailback Joe Moss, who has also rushed for more than 200 yards in the Chargers first two games.
Grenada faces a Hernando that is coming off a 49-42 victory at home against Cleveland Central. The Tigers are led by senior quarterback and Southern Mississippi commit Zach Wilcke, who stands at 6-foot-3, 185 pounds.
“Their quarterback will present problems to us defensively,” Kuhn said. “They have some outstanding skill position players.”
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. in Hernando.
