For the first time ever, Regents School of Oxford and Kirk Academy will meet on the gridiron this Friday night at The Farm, a sports facility located between Water Valley and Oxford off Hwy. 7.
The school, which is located in Oxford, opened in 2000 and started playing high school football this season, and is 3-5 overall this season and 0-1 in Class AA, District 1. It’s a program that loves to throw the football, according to first-year Kirk Academy head football coach Justin Purvis.
“They are going to throw the football 75-90 percent of the time,” Purvis said. “We are going to have to be discipline in our coverage.”
The statistics don’t lie in showing just how much the Lions like to throw the football. Junior Zack Hill is 143-of-216 for 2,175 yards and 28 touchdowns to go with nine interceptions.
Freshman Wade Hill is the leading receiver for Regents School with 47 catches for 777 yards and 10 touchdowns. Sophomore Sutton Gore is second with 27 catches for 478 yards and 8 touchdowns.
“The quarterback likes to get out of the pocket and we can’t lose coverage,” Purvis said. “We need to keep him in the pocket as much as possible.”
Purvis would like to see his team get off to good start, which didn’t happen during last week’s 28-12 win over North Delta at home.
“We’ve got to execute better early in the game,” he said. “Defensively, we need to be aggressive. It’s like a broken record, but we have come out on our heels. We need to get some pressure on the quarterback and do a better job in coverage.”
The first-year coach said there are not any elaborate plans on their defensive approach to the Lions pass-happy offense.
“We’ve got a few things planned – nothing crazy,” Purvis said. “If you try to get too fancy, you end up not being sound. I think we are good enough to cover them, but will mix in some zone concepts.”
The Raiders got a big night last week from senior quarterback Linton Carson, who rushed for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns in the 28-12 win over North Delta School. Senior Gage Vance leads Kirk with 902 yards and 12 touchdowns and has a touchdown reception.
Kirk is in a battle for positioning for the Class AA, Division 2 State Playoffs, which will be made up of Seeds 5-12 with the Top 4 playing in the Division 1 State Playoffs. Currently, the Raiders are behind four teams all of which have losing records. They include Greenville St. Joseph (2-6), which Kirk beat 40-26. Others include, Winston, which is 2-6 and has a power point average of 30 compared to 27.625 for Kirk; Regents, which is 3-5, and Canton, which is also 2-6 with a power point average of 29.286.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
