After being forced to cancel last week’s game against Brookhaven due to Hurricane Gustav, the South Pike Eagles are anxious to take get back on the gridiron.
The Eagles (1-0) will host Warren Central (1-1) in non-district action at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Colee Field.
South Pike is coming off a sizeable victory two weeks ago on the road when the Eagles shut out McComb 28-0 in the season opener.
Warren Central has split its two games this season — toppling Clarksdale 21-12, but falling to rival Vicksburg 7-0 last week.
The Eagles hope some of the momentum from the McComb game will carry over against Warren Central.
“I just watched (Warren Central) play,” South Pike coach Randall Huffman said. “They’re big up front and they go to the ball. We’ve prepared as well as we could have.”
Offensively, the Eagles have to build on their early success putting points on the board. Quarterbacks Tevin Martin and Isaac Tate have to control the game against the Viking’s young, unpredictable defense.
South Pike defeated Warren Central 12-10 last year. It was the first win of the season for the Eagles, who went on to capture the district title.
The Vikings don’t return many starters, but key offensive players Keaton Sanders and Joel Forbes will be hard to handle.
Sanders is the team’s wily quarterback who passed for more than 100 yards two weeks ago against Clarksdale. He can run, too, if he’s not contained.
“They've got a big, strong fullback (Forbes) who can run,” Huffman said.
Forbes is Warren Central’s go-to-guy on offense. He lines up in the fullback position and has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the first two games this season. Last year against the Eagles, however, Forbes was ineffective. The Eagle defense closed the running lanes and limited Forbes’ ability to break out for big gains.
Huffman wants to shut down the powerful Warren Central running game again this year.
“We’ve had a pretty good week on offense and defense,” Huffman said. “We’re ready to go, and we were able to get in all of our practices this week.”
The Vikings run out of the I-Pro formation and have a lot of speed on offense, coupled with a powerful offensive line. For the Eagles to be successful, they will have to find a way to get at Sanders like they did last year before he makes big plays happen on the field.
South Pike’s defense showed in the McComb game that it knows how to step it up when the time comes. Friday night’s contest will put the defense to the test again.
