JACKSON — There is always something you can improve on.
The West Point High School football coaches drive that point home to their players every day.
No one on the team epitomizes that drive to be the best better than Tommy Keys.
The willingness of the Green Wave to accept that challenge has pushed them one victory away from the school”s seventh state title.
Keys and the Green Wave (13-1) will take on Brookhaven (9-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mississippi Memorial Stadium for the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state title.
West Point, the defending Class 5A champion, has taken the best shots from everyone this season, and it is ready for another one Saturday night against the Panthers, who avenged regular-season losses to Wayne County and to West Jones in the playoffs to get to Jackson.
The Green Wave have returned to the title stage thanks to a running attack that has amassed 3,977 yards. Keys has only 26 of those yards (on seven carries), but he has played an integral role in the ground assault. Whether it has been upfront or at fullback, Keys is a driving force in a rushing game no one has stopped this season.
“I have played all right,” Keys said. “I have played really good in the playoffs. I am starting to turn it all on right now.”
Not only does the senior lineman/running back work hard in the weight room and on the field to be his best on game days, but he also has training hard to keep his baseball skills sharp.
Keys, who missed a game this season with a concussion, spent many Thursdays working for an hour to an hour and a half on his pitching and his hitting. The Green Wave typically have a light day Thursday to rest for games Friday nights, so Keys thought it was only natural to do all he could to keep improving.
Unfortunately, Keys said all of the hard work started to drag him down, especially his legs, and he wasn”t feeling himself. It wasn”t until the middle and end of the season when he got his second wind and started to feel more like the moving force up front and from the backfield the Green Wave have come to appreciate.
West Point coach Chris Chambless said Keys didn”t let the concussion slow him down and he returned to the field and played without hesitation. That style of play is typical for a senior who feeds off the Green Wave”s aggressive style.
“The coaches do a good job of preparing him each week to play tight end, fullback or wherever we need him,” Chambless said.
Keys, who has attracted interest from Mississippi State, the University of Alabama, and the University of Alabama of Birmingham for football, said he still hasn”t made up his mind which sport he will play in college. He could follow a path former Columbus High standout Billy Autrey followed. Autrey, who also played football and baseball for the Falcons, spent one season at East Mississippi Community College playing both sports before opting to go to UAB to play football.
Keys isn”t sure if he will go that route, but he is eager to get a chance to see how he fares at the next level.
“It is going to be tough,” Keys said of when it comes time to make a decision.
As for Saturday, Keys and the Green Wave will follow a simple formula in hopes of ending the season with as close to a perfect game as they have delivered all season.
“The coaches push us real hard and we work hard every week,” Keys said. “We tried to survive every week and make it here and survive at the end.
“(Brookhaven) might have snuck in, but they”re really good. We”re going to have to play our game and keep the offense on the field and driving and play strong defense.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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