By By Jeff Byrd / staff writer
Sept. 20, 2002
Meridian heads to Tupelo tonight in search of its elusive first win under new coach Ed Stanley. The Wildcats, however, will face as a big a challenge as they have in the previous three weeks.
Tupelo is 3-0 and ranked in the Top 10 in this week's Associated Press and Clarion-Ledger Super 10 polls. The Golden Wave outscored Amory 35-28 last week. The week before, they beat Louisville 21-19. Louisville then came in and beat Meridian 33-17 last week at Ray Stadium.
The biggest concern for Stanley's staff tonight will be trying to contain Tupelo standout running back in Davious Gillespie. Gillespie rolled over and through Amory last week for 262 yards and four touchdowns on runs of 35, 11, 10 and 7 yards.
For the season, the 225-pound Gillespie has rushed for 426 yards and has scored 10 touchdowns including a 92-yard kickoff return. He was instrumental in last year's 33-0 thumping of Meridian at Ray Stadium.
"He's a big strong, Herschel Walker-type back," said Stanley of Gillespie. "He breaks a lot of tackles. He's very dangerous when he turns north/south. He's hard to slow down."
Gillespie also runs behind a big offensive line. Tupelo's line could be as good and strong as Starkville, a team that overpowered Meridian in a 13-0 win on Sept. 6 in Meridian.
The Golden Wave also feature quarterback Louis Conley who threw for 149 yards in his first two games. The top receivers are Jacob Jones and John Payne.
Stanley is hoping a good week of practice has got Meridian thinking it can put behind its 0-3 start. The Wildcats gave Laurel a fight on the road before falling 27-26. They held a 17-14 lead against Louisville only to suffer four turnovers during the last 14 minutes of the game.
"This was one of the better weeks of practices that we've had," Stanley said. "We're looking forward to going to Tupelo.
"Hopefully we can execute better. What we need to happen is to make something good happen early," he said.
Something good could be a long pass play. The Wildcats' best play of the season came on an 80-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Ken Mitts to receiver Courtney Granger.
Granger and D.J. Loyd are the top receivers with four receptions each for 126 and 125 yards respectively. Keith Ivy has four catches for 42 yards.
Cordae Campbell made his first start of the season last week and gained 31 yards on 12 carries.
The offensive line is paced by guards Rolando Hardaway, Justin Jordan and Brennan Vaughn.
The Wildcat defense scored a touchdown against Louisville when Ryan Kimbrough swiped a fumble and ran in 42 yards. Lamarace Tucker, Broderick Coleman and Cody Warren are key players on defense.
Place-kicker Andrew Gambrell is also coming off a strong game with a 39-yard field goal and was 2-for-2 on PAT kicks.