The Friday Night Look-ahead is a weekly run through of the eight high school football programs covered by this newspaper. This week’s edition starts off with a Thursday night game for the Enterprise Yellow Jackets. All kickoff times are 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

 

Thursday, Oct. 17

Enterprise (5-2) at Salem (0-7)

Wildcat Field, Tylertown

The best season for Enterprise football in the last 20 years is rolling on, as the Yellow Jackets will head to Walthall County for a Thursday night matchup with the Salem Wildcats this week.

A win for coach Trey Woodard and his team over a Salem program that has lost 54 straight games is likely and a six-win season for the Yellow Jackets will be the most regular season victories for the program since the 2005 campaign, with two games left to play.

The Jackets are coming off a huge Region 8-1A win last week in Pascagoula against Resurrection Catholic. The Eagles have long been a 1A title contender on a yearly basis by playing a smart, ball control style of football.

It was Enterprise who led in time of possession last week in a 41-22 win, the first in program history against Resurrection.

“We controlled the ball on offense and did a good job of shutting down their run game,” said Woodard. “Except one busted coverage, the whole defense played a great game.”

Running behind a big, senior-laden offensive line, EAC senior quarterback Landon McNickles rushed for 209 yards and four touchdowns.

The Yellow Jackets are now 1-1 in the region with the win. They lost a game that they led early at home to Lumberton, 36-25, on Oct. 4. After Salem, the Yellow Jackets have a pair of massive games that will help sort out the final standings and playoff seeding for Regino 8-1A.

On Oct. 25, Enterprise will host East Marion. The Eagles are 1-6 overall and 1-1 in division play. EM beat Sacred Heart 8-7 and then lost 32-28 at Lumberton last week. The Eagles have played a strong non-conference schedule and have Resurrection, Enterprise, and Salem left to play.

That loss to East Marion is the only defeat suffered by Sacred Heart this season. The Yellow Jackets end the regular season by going to Hattiesburg on Halloween Night to take on the Sacred Heart Crusaders in the other big game left to play for Woodard’s crew.

Senior running back Ayden Arevalo rushed for 76 yards and scored once against Resurrection and Payton Kyzar chipped in 51 yards and scored one touchdown.

Salem was a 50-14 loser against Sacred Heart last week.

 

Friday, Oct. 18

Loyd Star (5-2) at Bogue Chitto (4-3)

Troy Smith Field, Highway 51

The Possum Bowl is an annual football matchup between the Bogue Chitto Bobcats and Loyd Star Hornets. One has to assume that not everyone reading this has grown up in Lincoln County and does not understand what a marsupial has to do with high school football.

This season marks 40 years since former Loyd Star coaches Roe Burns and Ricky Smith placed dead possums on the Hornet’s campus and blamed it on fans from Bogue Chitto.

The Possum Bowl has some of the best merch commemorating it every year, with the winner usually printing tee-shirts that have the score displayed prominently on them along with an angry looking possum.

The winner also gets a trophy that has a stuffed possum sitting atop a golden cup. Winning it gives one community bragging rights over the other for the next 365 days.

Recently, the games have been thrilling as they have decided who’ll finish first in Region 7-2A.

Last year the game was a back-and-forth matchup that served as the first game on the new field at Loyd Star. The Hornets got a field goal from Cooper Reid as time expired to win 23-21.

The 2022 game was also played at Loyd Star, and that night Bogue Chitto got an Anderw Merrell PAT kick in overtime to win 17-16. Loyd Star won 26-24 in 2021, and Bogue Chitto took a 27-20 overtime victory in 2020.

Expect a similarly tight game on Friday as both squads are led offensively by sophomore quarterbacks and running backs.

Loyd Star and coach Adam Smith are coming off a 30-6 win over Amite County last week at home. The Hornets are 2-0 in division play with wins over AC and Wilkinson County.

Last week in the win, sophomore quarterback Phillip Ross Spencer ran for one touchdown and rushed for another. A sophomore, his scoring throw went to his classmate, wide receiver Tristan Fortenberry.

Sophomore running back Jordyn Kees continued his strong play for the Loyd Star offense as he scored two rushing touchdowns in the win.

Bogue Chitto is coming off a 24-7 win over West Lincoln. The BC offense is led by sophomore quarterback Alex-Michael Roberts and sophomore running back Jayden Poole. Bogue Chitto has a passing game that has improved throughout the season as Roberts looks for senior receiver Noah Magee when he wants to put a ball into the air.

Tackling will be big in this game, as both schools have a proven game breaker at running back that can outrun the back end of a defense if they get into space.

West Lincoln (1-6) vs. Wilkinson County (0-6)

Perry Miller Field, Flea Hop

The West Lincoln Bears and first year head coach Johnny Ball badly want a Region 7-2A win this week against their opponents from Wilkinson County. Earlier this year, West Lincoln got its first win of the season over Salem in a non-region game, but that was on the road in Walthall County.

A victory at home this week over Wilkinson County would be the first win on Perry Miller Field for the Bears since a win over Sylva-Bay Academy in September of 2023.

Who can generate explosive plays will likely decide this one, as Wilkinson County is averaging 5.2 points per game in their six losses while the Bears are putting up 7.5 points per night in their six defeats.

 

Wesson (6-0) vs. Franklin County (2-5)

H.L. “Hook” Stone Stadium, Copiah-Lincoln CC

The perfect start to the season continued for Wesson last week with a 56-0 road win at Port Gibson. The Cobras are back in Wesson this week for another Region 7-3A game with the Franklin County Bulldogs.

Wesson beat FC 34-14 last season in Meadville and have won four out of the last five played against the Bulldogs.

What Wesson coach Jeremy Loy doesn’t want his team to do is overlook Franklin County, in anticipation of two big games to close out the regular season. Wesson will close the year with a game at South Pike (7-0) and a home game against Jefferson County (5-2). The SP Eagles and JC Tigers play this week in Fayette.

Wesson got three passing touchdowns and one rushing score from senior quarterback Cole Gibson in the win. Senior CJ Jackson also carried the ball 13 times for 107 yards and one touchdown. Kievon Brown added a rushing score for the Cobras as well.

Senior Deshawn Smith, sophomore Damarion Smith, and freshman Laiken Thomas all caught a touchdown from Gibson. Hunter Meredith led the Wesson defense with eight tackles and senior defensive tackle Korbin Ashmore posted one sack against Port Gibson.

Franklin County is under the direction of first year head coach Johnathan Brooks. Brooks was a standout at FC, Copiah-Lincoln CC and Millsaps College before beginning his coaching career. He was most recently on staff at Madison Central before taking his first head coaching job in Meadville.

Franklin County has wins over Amite County (7-6) and Wilkinson County (20-6) this season.

 

Brookhaven Academy (2-7) at Parklane Academy (7-2)

Pioneer Field, McComb

Brookhaven Academy and first year head coach Ryan Ross will finish up the unforgiving gauntlet of MAIS District 3-5A play on Friday with the short trip to face the Parklane Pioneers.

Parklane is the top team in the district and is coming off a 42-34 win over Oak Forest Academy. The only losses this year for the Pioneers have been to Madison-Ridgeland Academy (42-20) and Jackson Prep (48-12).

Parklane is also 2-0 against MHSAA foes, beating 3A Choctaw County 22-21 and 5A North Pike 20-0 this season. It’s been an impressive year for MAIS teams against MHSAA competition as a whole. MRA beat 7A contender Oak Grove 51-13 and Jackson Prep recently blitzed 6A power West Jones 42-7. That win for Prep made the MAIS 16-1 against the MHSAA in 2024 on the football field.

The Pioneers are led by former Cathedral School and Brookhaven Academy head coach Ron Rushing. Last season was the first for Parklane after moving down to the 5A ranks and the Pioneers finished 8-3 as they were eliminated by Adams County Christian School in the second round of the playoffs. ACCS went on to win the state championship.

PA beat BA 50-13 last season in Brookhaven.

The Cougars lost 42-14 to Silliman Institute last week. BA got rushing touchdowns from sophomores Trace Garrett and Will Newell last week against Silliman.

Brookhaven Academy will close the 2024 season next week with a road trip to Liberty to face the Amite School Center Rebels (0-8).

 

Brookhaven High (5-1) at Provine High (1-6)

Hughes Field, Jackson

Brookhaven High got a punt return touchdown by EJ Ratliff and one rushing score each from Dreamus Harron Jr., Jaden Allen and Caiden Quarles last week in a 32-14 win over Florence.

The Panthers have won four in a row over Provine, including a 38-13 victory last season. The last time the Rams from southwest Jackson beat BHS was 1985, when the Panthers were playing their first year under former coach James McCollum.

Provine opened region play last week with a 42-6 loss at home to South Jones. A week prior, the Rams had broken through into the win column with a 28-24 win over fellow JPS program Jim Hill. Other losses this season for Provine include South Pike (43-0), Terry High (43-0), Canton High (34-0), Callaway High (39-0), and Lanier High (16-6). The Lanier win over Provine broke a 35-game losing streak for the Bulldogs to the Rams.

 

Lawrence County (2-4) at Purvis (3-4)

Cowart Stadium, Purvis

Following a homecoming loss to Sumrall, coach Jesse Anderson and the Lawrence County Cougars were idle last week. The Cougars will look to get back on the winning track this week with a region road game at Purvis in Lamar County.

Purvis is coming off a huge win for its program, a 14-10 victory over their county rivals from Sumrall. Sumrall had previously won the last four games in their rivalry with the Tornados from Purvis.

Last season, Purvis and head coach Brad Hankins went 5-5 overall, including a 74-68 loss in Monticello to the LC Cougars in a game that went to four overtimes. This season the Tornadoes have wins over North Forrest (35-6) and Long Beach (49-34) along with the victory over Sumrall.

The losses this year for Purvis have been to Lumberton (27-14), Pass Christian (48-9), Oak Forest Academy (21-12), and Forrest County AHS (21-7).