WEST POINT — The West Point High School football team is on course.
Chris Chambless was an ideal example of the Green Wave’s timeliness Thursday afternoon as he gathered cleaning supplies in his office for the monthly cleaning of the field house.
Don’t mistake the cleaning for a lack of focus, though, because Chambless and the West Point coaches are focused on keeping their players on a path to another Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 5A State title.
“We control our destiny,” Chambless said. “Our goal is to play hard and to play fast and be as discipline on the field as we can and to try to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Winning has been West Point’s way this season. It will try to continue that trend at 7 tonight when it takes on Saltillo in a Class 5A, Region 1 game. West Point (9-0, 5-0 region), the state’s No. 1 team in The Associated Press rankings, need a win tonight to clinch a share of the region title. It owns the tiebreaker against second-place Olive Branch with one region game remaining after this week.
West Point is coming off a 48-0 victory against Grenada in which senior running backs Marcus Murphy, Chris Calvert, and Nate Montgomery rushed for more than 100 yards. That level of production isn’t lost on Chambless, who has had his share of talented running backs and skill players. He said the motivation the Green Wave have to build off their 2016 state title has kept everyone inspired to practice hard and to compete for every snap they can get.
“Nate has been a steady factor for us the past couple of years,” Chambless said. “He plays a lot of different spots for us, not just tailback. He gets after you blocking, and I imagine if we put him on defense he would make a lot of tackles. He is a do-it-all guy for us.”
As a member of a 22-player senior class, Montgomery said the Green Wave had used words like “relentless” and “unstoppable” to characterize their march toward Ole Miss’ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to play for another title. He said both units love to compete against each other every day in practice to become relentless.
“It is not a goal. It is what we believe in,” Montgomery said. “I don’t see anybody stopping us.”
Montgomery’s confidence mirrors that of his teammates. It isn’t overconfidence because the players make sure the grind of a long season doesn’t get anyone down. In fact, Montgomery and the Green Wave know they need six more wins to realize their season-long goal. If that sounds like a long road to travel and a long time to remain focused, don’t worry. Montgomery said the Green Wave will stay motivated, focused, and, more importantly, hungry to dominate.
“You can’t be comfortable and think there isn’t anyone out there that can beat you,” Montgomery said. “Being comfortable, that is not what we do here.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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