WEST POINT — Re-focusing is something the West Point High School football team is used to doing.
This week, West Point and Oak Hill Academy will need to raise their intensity levels to meet similar challenges.
For West Point, the state’s No. 1 team in The Associated Press rankings, the next hurdle comes in the form of Olive Branch. The Conquistadors and the Green Wave enter the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 5A, Region 1 game at 7-0 and 3-0 in the region. The teams will square off at 7 tonight at Hamblin Stadium-McCallister Field.
Clay County also will play host to a Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) game between West Memphis (Ark.) Christian School and Oak Hill Academy at 7 tonight. Oak Hill Academy (5-2) will look to get back on track after seeing its five-game winning streak snapped last week in a 16-7 loss to Central Holmes Academy in a Class AA, District 1 game.
Last week, West Point used a 226-yard, three-touchdown effort from senior running back Chris Calvert to earn a 45-7 victory against Lake Cormorant. West Point coach Chris Chambless said Calvert, who missed key parts of last season due to a concussion, is thriving now that he is healthy. He said the continued strong play of the Green Wave’s offensive line has helped Calvert and senior quarterback Marcus Murphy shine.
“He did it on 13 carries,” Chambless said of Calvert. “All of our guys are very unselfish. There hasn’t been one time where anyone has pouted or not pulled for the other guy.
“Chris is always there waiting on the football when you give it to him. When you don’t give it to him, he is blocking and doing good things. He is healthy, which is huge, so it is a great dimension to have. He can accelerate and makes great cuts. He can run over you. He has a lot of tools, plus he has great hands.”
Chambless said all of the team’s seniors have done a good job “soaking up” every moment of their last season. He said that gives him confidence to know the Green Wave will answer the challenge of the Conquistadors, who are in their first season in Class 5A after moving down from Class 6A following the latest reclassification by the MHSAA.
Chambless said that attention to detail is something the Green Wave pride themselves on. Another is not being distracted by polls or pre-game hype, like media members picking against them. Chambless said the opinions of others won’t play a role in the outcome tonight.
“We are going to treat every game like it is the most important game,” Chambless said. “This game is going to have a playoff atmosphere. We told the kids, ‘Let’s earn our respect and try to play West Point football, control the line of scrimmage, and don’t turn the ball over.
“We’re going get everybody’s best shot. We can’t afford to have a letdown game. We can’t afford to play any less than our best.”
Oak Hill Academy coach Chris Craven said his team needs to eliminate the penalties and mistakes that stalled multiple drives last week. He said the loss was disappointing in that it ended the team’s chance of going undefeated in district play, but he said the squad still has its bigger goal of winning a district title in its sights. Oak Hill Academy will need to beat Marshall Academy next week in Holly Springs to earn the championship based on head-to-head results since the teams would be tied at 3-1.
“We had to re-focus,” Craven said. “Obviously we didn’t play our best game. We had way too many penalties and mental mistakes.”
Craven said the Raiders “got back on the grind” and used a long film session Monday to examine their mistakes. He said the rest of the week has been an opportunity to re-focus on the principles the players helped establish prior to the season.
“We didn’t do it like we had been doing it,” Craven said. “They scored on two big plays on defensive blown assignments. When we got in the red zone, it seemed like we would get a penalty.”
Craven said it was one of those nights where the Raiders made mistakes at inopportune times to take them out of field goal position. He said renewed focus on mental effort will be important tonight against a quality Class A West Memphis (Ark.) that enters the game with a 6-2 record. West Memphis defeated Columbus Christian Academy 50-0 on Sept. 1. Oak Hill Academy beat CCA 55-0 on Sept. 29.
“We talk a lot about staying humble,” Craven said. “It is one thing to talk about humility and being humble and the act of being humbled. Those are two different categories. … It has been about re-focusing and not taking anything for granted. We talk about staying humble, but not we’re humbled. We understand we are right back where we were. It takes what it takes to be good. It takes what it takes to be great. It takes what it takes — every bit of it — to win football games.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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