ND and Calhoun face off

By Angie Ledbetter

The North Delta Green Wave football team (2-1 overall,1-0 district) will  play a non-district game tonight when they go back on the road to play the Calhoun Academy Cougars (1-2). The Cougars played in district 1-3A.

Cougars’ head coach Charlie Driskell will field seven seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and one freshman.

Key players to watch on the Cougar team will be No. 10 Erick Lofton, No. 11 Tucker Moss, No. 15 Michael Wester, No. 24 Tyler Blount, and No. 45 Adam Murphree.

The Cougars opened their season with North Sunflower on August 24 and lost 30-12.  One week later, they were shut out by the Tunica Blue Devils 27-0.  Last Friday night, they won their first game against Immanuel Christian 36-13.

When the Green Wave team arrives in Calhoun County, Green Wave head coach Richard Russo said he will reflect on a lot of great memories. He is returning to the county where he coached in 2001-2006 before coming to North Delta. He will get to see some former players, a lot of friends, and even fans who are still there.

“It’s very exciting for me personally to go back to Calhoun county,” he said. “I’m very excited about that.  I have a lot of close friends still in Calhoun County and they really love their football.  Three of these players I personally coached when they were at Bruce high school before they transferred to Calhoun Academy.  It’s exciting for me personally.”

Even though Calhoun is not big on numbers, they have some quality super players.

“They only ran four offensive setups in the first three games,” Russo said. “They really focus on trying to pound the football. On the defense, they really stack a lot of people inside the tackle box.”

Russo said, “To beat the Cougars, we have got to get some speed back at the quarterback position because that’s how our offense works. You’ve got to have a fast quarterback to run this particular offense that we have.  Once we get that done and quit missing tackles, I feel that we will be back on track.”

Kickoff for the game will be at 7:30 with pregame at 7 p.m.

Directions to Calhoun Academy: Take Hwy 6 East to Oxford. Take Hwy 9 South. Go approx 35 miles, going through Bruce and Pittsboro. The school is 2 miles on left on Hwy 9.