By By Austin Bishop/EMG regional sports director
September 1, 2003
Three early season showdowns between undefeated teams highlight this week's prep football action. But it is not just the games between undefeated teams that hold a lot of importance.
In fact, one game between a pair of 0-1 teams is being looked at as very important by the two head coaches.
Southeast Lauderdale dropped its opener to Class 2A power Enterprise by the score of 25-13, while Northeast Lauderdale lost to Class 5A Northwest Rankin 23-0.
Taylor, whose Tigers have been forced to play a team or two outside of the area over the past few seasons due to scheduling difficulties, says he would rather have more rivals on the schedule.
After SEL hosts Northeast at 7:30 p.m. Friday, the Tigers host Clarkdale on Sept. 11 before moving into division play with road games against Forest and Carthage.
Following the game with the Tigers, the NEL Trojans host Newton County, before beginning league play at home against Northeast Jones.
Other games to watch this week have Lamar School visiting MPSA power Jackson Prep, West Lauderdale visiting Philadelphia, Meridian visiting Starkville, Wayne Academy hosting Sylva-Bay Academy, No. 1-ranked Wayne County High School hosting Madison Central and Clarkdale hosting Enterprise on Thursday.
Meridian played well in its season-opener with Clinton, before falling 14-7.
Midway in the second quarter the Wildcats held a 7-0 lead and appeared to be ready to go up by two touchdowns when Cordee Campbell broke free on a 70-yard touchdown run.
The play was called back, and the Clinton Arrows eventually came up with a turnover that led to the game-tying touchdown drive. From that point, MHS was never really able to regain control of the game.
MHS travels to Starkville High School on Friday to face another team that lost a tough game against a good team. Starkville fell to Louisville 12-7 last week.
Lamar, who has beaten a pair of MPSA Class A powers over the last two weeks (Wayne and Heidelberg), moves up to face Class 3A powerhouse Jackson Prep on the road at 7 p.m.
West Lauderdale, a 19-7 victor over Clarkdale in week one, pays a visit to Harpole Stadium to take on host Philadelphia High School. The Tornadoes downed Choctaw Central 21-15 in the head coaching debut for Mike Brown.
Another featured game this week matches up a 2-0 team against an 0-2 squad in the division-opener for both teams.
While Sylva-Bay comes in undefeated having posted wins over Winona (28-0) and Hebron Christian (40-0), they face a Wayne Academy team that has played a couple tough teams to open the season.
The Jaguars fell to Lamar 35-12 in the opener and then lost to Presbyterian Christian of Hattiesburg 3-0 last week.
Wayne, Heidelberg and Winston have long been considered the teams to beat in Academy 3-A. A win by the Saints over Wayne on the road would go a long way toward moving Sylva-Bay into that elite group, but the Jaguars still have their sites set on being one of the big three.
Clarkdale, coming off its first-ever division championship, faces a tough task on Thursday night as they try to give new head coach Gary Lee his first win as the boss of the Bulldogs.
Enterprise pays a visit in a 7 p.m. contest, the second of three Clarkdale plays to open the season.
The No. 1-ranked War Eagles of Wayne County High school play host to an offensive fire-power, when the Jaguars of Madison Central show up on Friday night. Madison Central opened its season with a 49-6 thumping of Class 3A Mendenhall, while Wayne County won a defensive struggle over homestanding Columbus 13-0.