There was no need for alarm if you saw the stadium lights on Sunday night at the West Oktibbeha County High School football stadium.
Despite last week”s open date, the Timberwolves were putting in some extra effort to get ready for Thursday night”s non-region tussle against highly touted Eupora.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Maben.
“That is the type of effort these kids are giving,” West Oktibbeha coach Adam Lowrey said. “We gave them an option of practicing Monday morning or Sunday night. They wanted to go Sunday night under the lights, so we practiced a couple of hours in the rain. Then, the players were begging to scrimmage after that.
“I knew then we had turned this program around. The Good Lord blessed me with a team that has the type of attitude it takes to be winners.”
A year ago, West Oktibbeha started strong but limped to the finish line with a 6-5 record that wasn”t good enough to qualify for the Class 1A playoffs.
“Our kids are angry,” Lowrey said. “They are really upset at how last season finished because we didn”t make the playoffs. We won the first couple of games but, in the end, we really didn”t do anything. They have carried that attitude with them throughout the offseason. That is why everybody is level-headed.
“The kids” attitudes have been great. Being 2-0 helps, but no one on this team feels like we have really accomplished anything.”
Last week”s atypical open date paused West Oktibbeha”s high-octane offense that has scored 94 points in victories against University Christian (44-36) and Montgomery County (50-33).
“We are beginning to take the shape of a football team,” Lowrey said. “This is my team now. The kids that were eighth-graders on my first team are now juniors. We ended the year with 13 players. That is how the program has grown. We have had transfers and newcomers come on and want to be a part of this.
“When we started, we were a bunch of basketball players catching passes and making tackles. Now, we are football players making football players. The players feel that way. That is a good feeling.”
The West Oktibbeha coaches used the open week to focus to being more physical.
“Eupora is very physical,” said Lowrey, who celebrates his birthday Thursday. “They are much bigger than we are. This will be a very good challenge. We have several teams in our region who play very physical football. We will see Friday night what we will see a lot of when region play begins.”
After the Eupora contest, West Oktibbeha, which is ranked No. 3 in this week”s Associated Press prep football rankings, will open its eight-game Class 1A, Region 3 schedule with a trip to Nanih Waiya.
“Playoffs are the No. 1 goal,” Lowrey said. “The players know last year didn”t end the way we wanted it to, so now is a chance to make up for that. For us, it all starts next week. This will be an excellent game to get us ready for that challenge.”
Eupora, a Class 2A playoff participant and eight-game winner last season, is 2-1. It opened the season with a 20-12 home loss to French Camp before winning at Noxapater (41-21) and at home against Winona (34-27).
Starkville Academy (3-0) at Leake Academy (2-1)
The Volunteers” defense continues to head in the right direction.
After a couple of near-misses, Starkville Academy posted its first shutout of the season in last week in a 22-0 victory against Magnolia Heights at J.E. Logan Field.
Coach Jeff Terrill, his staff, and the Volunteers hope to ride the momentum of a three-game win streak into Friday night”s tussle at non-region rival Leake Academy. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Madden.
Despite the margin of victory Friday, Terrill thought the win was a tightly contested ballgame.
“It was not nearly as bad as the score would indicate,” Terrill said. “The difference for us was on defense. We had really good red-zone defense. I don”t know if it was one specific thing. We did a real good of containing a mobile quarterback. We tightened up when they threatened.”
Despite allowing only 10 points this season, Starkville Academy”s coaches feel the team has improved on defense each week.
“We had several sacks and tackles for loss,” Terrill said. “The defensive play gave us an advantage because we seemed to have kept them at a disadvantage in down-and-distance.”
Defensive end Jordan Bright led the way with three sacks and five tackles for loss.
Offensively, the Volunteers capitalized on their scoring opportunities. Running back Colby Runnells led the attack with 13 rushes for 126 yards and a touchdown.
“Two things stood out offensively,” Terrill said. “We are an option-attack team. However, in the final two minutes of the first we hit a couple of big pass plays and went down and scored. In the fourth quarter, the defense makes a big stop in the red zone. The offense answers with a long time-consuming drive, which also ended with another touchdown.”
Leake Academy (2-1) opened the season with a 42-6 loss at Simpson Academy. It has wins against Immanuel Christian (35-8) and Kirk Academy (42-28) in the past two weeks.
“Leake has several talented players at their skill positions,” Terrill said. “They have also made the playoffs for several years in a row, so they have a quality program. Anytime you go on the road it is going to be a challenge.”
Sebastopol (1-1) at East Oktibbeha (2-1)
The Titans returned to work Monday after being outmanned last week by Class 4A North Pontotoc in a 55-0 loss. The Titans will close their season-opening four-game homestand at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Sebastopol in the Class 1A, Region 3, opener in Crawford.
“It was a very disappointing night from an effort standpoint,” East Oktibbeha County coach Randy Brooks said. “The kids did not come out ready to play. This is a good lesson for us. It reminds us we have a long way to go.”
East Oktibbeha had flashes of defensive success early in the game. However, a penalty extended North Pontotoc”s first scoring march midway through the first quarter. North Pontotoc then scored three touchdowns in the second quarter to sprint to a 27-0 halftime advantage. Two of the scores came on back-to-back possession in less than two minutes.
“North Pontotoc is really a good team,” Brooks said. “They are well coached, well disciplined. However, I don”t know if they were 55 points better than we were. After all of the positive steps we took the first two weeks of the season, this was a disappointing result.”
After winning four games last season, Brooks said the Titans will re-focus on their goal of earning a playoff berth and getting an opportunity to play host to a first-round playoff game.
“Region games are the ones that count,” Brooks said. “We have to forget about Friday and come out ready to play. The goal is still to host a first-round playoff game. When we play to our potential, we have a chance to reach that goal.”
This is the first of eight region games for East Oktibbeha. The top four teams in the nine-team region will make postseason. The top two will play host to first-round games.
Sebastopol (1-1) dropped a 21-6 decision at Lake before rebounding for 32-8 home win against Clarkdale. Sebastopol was open last week.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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