Second-year Nanih Waiya head football coach James Courtney has no problem whatsoever putting a little pressure on his football team. He let them know very clearly that it was imperative that his Warriors beat visiting Tupelo Christian Prep last Friday night.
“We put all of our eggs in that basket,” Cortney said of his team’s 67-28 win over TCP. “We hyped it up. It helped that all of the media guys picked against us.
“It’s another big game for us this week (at West Lowndes),” he said. “We have to play every week like it’s a big game for us and one we have to win, because it is. We aren’t making any bones about it. Every game is important and that is my job to build them up and motivate them to be ready to play.”
Last week’s win improved the Warriors to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in Region 2-1A play. NW hopes to extend its winning streak to three when the Warriors visit 4-0 west Lowndes on Friday.
While the Panthers are undefeated, Nanih Waiya will be by far the biggest challenge they have faced this year. West Lowndes has wins over Ethel (34-6), McAdams (12-8), Kemper County (36-34), and league foe Hamilton (36-0).
Courtney warns that the homestanding Panthers will be a challenge.
“They are big, athletic and good,” he said. “People have said that if they (West Lowndes) ever got some confidence they would be tough. We are extremely worried.”
The Warriors are hoping to keep WL’s offensive weapons from getting into space and plan to force the Panthers to run the ball.
“We want to eliminate space for them,” he said “And when they get in space we have to make the tackles.”
On Friday night the Warriors jumped out to a 26-0 first quarter lead and before the night was over amassed 500 rushing yards and 555 yards of total offense.
“We had a good night offensively,” Courtney said. “We played the way we thought we were capable of playing and we are glad.”
Austin Sanders scored four touchdowns for the Warriors, while rushing for 140 yards on just seven carries. Devean Turner picked up 163 yards and two touchdowns on 10 attempts, while Shia Moore had 116 yards and two scores on five carries.
Donovan Turner rushed for 81 yards on five attempts and completed all three of his passes for 55 yards and a score. Tylan Glass caught all three of those passes.
Taylor Higginbotham led the defense with 13 tackles, including two for a loss, while Tylan Glass and Blake Young had seven stops each. Glass had three tackles for loss, while Young intercepted a pass.
The first quarter saw Moore score on runs of 57 and 30 yards, while Donovan Turner ran one in from 21 yards out and Sanders had a 1-yard scoring run.
In the second quarter NW scored on a 1-yard run by Devean Turner and a 19-yard pass from Donovan Turner to Glass. Sanders scored on runs of 80 and 10 yards in the third quarter, while Devean Turner broke one for 69 yards and a score. Sanders added a 31-yard TD run in the fourth.
