Wayne Academy, Sylva Bay tangle in key game; EHS plays tonight

By By Dale McKee / EMG Sports Writer
Sept. 5, 2002
One of the featured games in the area Friday night is the 7:30 p.m. matchup in Bay Springs between visiting Wayne Academy and Sylva Bay.
The host Saints come into this game undefeated at 2-0 while the Jaguars are 1-1. Sylva Bay has won over Winona Christian and Hebron Christian. This past week the Chad Odom-led Saints won on the road 26-18 over Hebron.
Wayne defeated PCS of Hattiesburg 34-0 as the Jaguars evened their record at 1-1. Wayne's Garrett James fired two touchdowns to Shawn Dearman and one to Jared Crane as the Johnny Walker-led Jags rolled.
Patton Stanley took the second half kickoff back 83 yards for a Wayne score. Brent Sturdivant rushed 27 yards for the final score of the night.
Walker, the head coach of the Jaguars, says that Sylva Bay has a fine ball club. "They look impressive on film," said Walker. "They have a fine rushing game and pass the ball well. They have a very balanced attack," he said.
Saints head coach Chad Odom is equally impressed with the Jaguars. " They have a winning tradition and could have won the state title last season," said
Odom. "They know what it takes to win and will come ready to play Friday."
In talking about last week's win over Hebron, Odom said his defense will have to play better. "We missed way too many defensive assignments," stated Odom. "They had two long runs that were just busted assignments on our part. We came out flat and struggled the whole game."
South Leake at Enterprise
The Bulldogs of Enterprise are looking to move to 2-0 on the season after a tough and penalty-laden win over Union 33-21 last week.
EHS plays host to non-division foe South Leake tonight at 7:30. This game is the second of five non-league contests that is being used to help the Bulldogs prepare for Region 7-2A play.
Next week the Bulldogs host Kemper County, before visiting Raleigh and Newton on back-to-back weeks.
Enterprise opens region play on Oct. 4 when the Bulldogs host traditional rival Bay Springs.
Wayne County at Mendenhall
Last year at Waynesboro these teams played a classic. WC won 24-23 in overtime. This year both teams are coming off big opening wins. Wayne County defeated Vicksburg 28-13 and was ranked No. 2 this week in the Associated Press Top 20. Mendenhall won over Petal 49-21 in their opener.
Wayne used touchdown runs by Jerrod Sims, Akeem Lofton, and Michael McLaughlin to shock the top-ranked Vicksburg Gators.
Heidelberg Academy at Central
Tom Lewis' Rebels open 3A district play on the road.
Central won its opener over Union Academy 34-0 but lost last week to Briarfield, La., 64-0. The Rebels lost a heartbreaker to Lamar 15-14 in the final quarter.
Last week the Rebel offense rushed for 234 yards and passed for 129 yards, a most impressive performance against Lamar.
Heidelberg at Noxubee County
The Heidelberg Oilers scored 26 points in the final period last week to whip Northeast Lauderdale 43-28. The Oilers trailed 28-3 in the second period but trimmed the lead to 28-17 at halftime.
Quarterback Michael Johnson scored 25 points in the contest. Johnson scored three touchdowns, kicked four extra points, and added a field goal. Johnson finished with 152 yards rushing and 68 passing yards. The Oilers had 324 yards offense.
The Oilers will travel to Noxubee County this Friday night. Last week Noxubee beat South Delta 38-18 and last season demolished the Oilers 38-0.
Northeast Jones at Bay Springs
The Bay Springs Bulldogs will host Northeast Jones this week. The Bulldogs survived an opening kickoff return for a touchdown to whip Loyd Star 21-12.
Josh Crosby ran 35 yards for the first score and then recorded a safety for the Bulldogs. Channing Taylor then scored on runs of 32 and 12 yards for Bay
Springs. Bobby Gammage kicked one conversion for the winners.
Stringer at Puckett
The Stringer Red Devils played well in the season opener but lost a close contest to Bogue Chitto 28-21.
The Devils travel to Puckett this week. Puckett was idle the opening weekend. Puckett whipped Stringer 50-14 last season.