After dropping five consecutive volleyball matches, the Louisville Lady Wildcats got a much-needed win last Tuesday when they hosted Columbus. LHS knocked off the Lady Falcons 3-0 in the quick match to move to 2-6 on the young season.
Louisville will be going up against the Lady Whippets of Kosciusko as they hosted them on Tuesday. They also host Lanier on Thursday as they cap off this three-game homestand.
— Robbie Faulk
METRO JACKSON AREA DOMINATES TOP 10
The top three teams in Mississippi Gridiron’s Top 10 are very familiar with each other. Madison Central, who beat Brandon 28-14 last week, is at the top of the rankings followed by 2-0 Pearl and 1-1 Brandon.
Madison Central visits Northwest Rankin on Friday, while Pearl hosts Ridgeland and Brandon heads to Clinton. The rest of the top 10 are Starkville, South Paola, Petal, Picayune, Lafayette County, Oak Grove ,and Oxford.
Columbia is at the top of the Little 10, which is reserved for teams Class 3A or smaller. Columbia is followed by Taylorsville, Charleston, Noxubee County, Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Philadelphia, Seminary, Heritage Academy, Water Valley, and Houston.
Smithville leads Class 1A, followed by Noxapater, Lumberton, Nanih Waiya and Hollandale Simmons. Smithville, Noxapater and NW all play in Region 2-1A. Louisville is on top of the 4A rankings, followed by Greenwood, South Pike, Poplarville, and Corinth.
— Austin Bishop
WA VOLLEYBALL SET TO HOST KOSY
The Lady Patriots couldn’t build on their first win of the season against Noxapater as they ran into the tough Lady Eagles from Grace Christian last Tuesday. WA lost a 3-0, straight-sets match to the Lady Eagles and fell to 1-4 in its inaugural season.
Grace won set one 25-12, set two 25-13 and the third and final set went 25-11 in its favor as they rolled through the Lady Patriots for the victory. WA will be at home this week as they host Kosciusko High School on Thursday night.
— Robbie Faulk
FOUR REGION 2-1A SCHOOLS UNDEFEATED
There are now four Region 2-1A schools with 2-0, records, while the other five have yet to pick up a win. The 2-0 schools are: Noxapater, who beat Eupora 32-15; Smithville, a 33-25 victor over Hatley; West Lowndes, a 12-8 winner over McAdams; and Tupelo Christian, which rolled past Oak Hill Academy 53.-21.
The 0-2 schools are Nanih Waiya, Vardaman, French Camp, and Hamilton, while Okolona is 0-1. Other scores from last week saw NW fall to Union 35-24, FCA lose to Starkville Academy 23-0, Hamilton fall to J.Z. George 36-20; and Vardaman lost to Bruce 34-0.
This week’s games have Noxapater hosting Starkville Academy, Nanih Waiya visiting Choctaw Central in a game that has been moved from Thursday to Friday, French Camp traveling to Eupora, Smithville visiting Mantachie, Hamilton hosting Ethel, Vardaman traveling to East Webster, Okolona heading to Thrasher, West Lowndes entertaining Kemper County, and Tupelo Christian hosting Biggersville.
— Austin Bishop
A LOOK AROUND REGION 4-4A
Four of the six Region 4-4A football teams won last week, including a dramatic 14-13 win by Kosciusko over homestanding Newton County. Junior defensive lineman Davante Turner broke through the line and blocked a 32-yard field goal attempt with 47 seconds left to hadn’t the Whippets their first win of the season. Kosciusko, now 1-1 on the season, plays host to Class 3A power Winona on Friday night.
Other Region 4-4A scores had Louisville beating West Point 38-28, Choctaw Central rolling past Cherokee (N.C.) 47-12 in the Battle of the Nations, Leake Central beating Leake County 41-0, West Lauderdale losing to Philadelphia 29-21, and Northeast Lauderdale falling to South Jones 28-21.
Five of the six teams in the region are 1-1, while NEL is 0-2 This week’s other games have Louisville hitting the road to face 0-2 Columbus, NE Lauderdale visiting Southeast Lauderdale, Leake Central going to Philadelphia, West Lauderdale traveling to South Jones and Choctaw Central hosting Nanih Waiya in a game that has been moved from Thursday to Friday night.
— Austin Bishop
NEW STREAKER ON TAP
With West Point losing on Friday to Louisville 38-28, Greenville St. Joseph now has the state's longest active winning streak at 13 games. The Irish (2-0) are the two-time defending MAIS Class AA state champion and are now in Class 3A. The last loss for Greenville St. Joe was Week 2 of last year against Indianola Academy.
This is the second week in a row that the team with the state's longest active winning streak was snapped after West Point defeated Horn Lake 34-6 in Week 1. The defending 6A state champion Eagles had a 15-game winning streak.
— Brandon Shields
WILDCATS TRYING TO AVOID TRAP GAME
Louisville, fresh off a big 38-28 win, his the road to face 0-2 Columbus on Friday night at 7. It’s a game where the Wildcats should be heavily favored, but one that LHS coach Tyrone Shorter and his players won’t be taking lightly.
“We can’t let this be a trap game,” Shorter said. “We’ve just got to continue to get better, Columbus has a new coaching staff and they’re trying to get better. I know their coach well and he’s going to get them ready to play. We’ve just got to do what we do and get ready for the next one. We’re going to prepare our team and get them ready to roll. We don’t take anybody lightly.”
Columbus fell to Provine 15-6 on Aug. 23 and 16-0 to Noxubee County last week. It is the home opener for the Falcons.
— Robbie Faulk
