Jr. High Green Wave pulls out two wins in four days

By Angie Ledbetter

The North Delta Junior High Green Wave continue to dominate the district as they remain undefeated at 5-0.

Only two district games remain on the schedule before they can clinch the district 1A title.

On Monday, September 17, the Green Wave team traveled to Marvell Ark. to take on the Marvell Eagles Junior High team and walked away with a 13-6 district victory.  This game was rescheduled due to the weather on the previous Thursday night.

Tres Brasell led the team in rushing with 97 yards on 11 carries. Chris Rodgers had 89 yards on nine carries, and Bryan Nickle had 38 on 12 carries.  Brasell also had three punt returns for five yards and Rodgers had one return for five yards.  Michael Magee kicked one of two PAT (point after touchdown).

The Green Wave had five first downs, six penalties for 45 yards, and one fumble.  They had 234 total yards.

Scoring for the Green Wave was Brasell on a 62 yard run with 3:18 on the clock in the first quarter.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Rodgers scored on a 65-yard run. The Eagles scored in the fourth quarter on a three yard run but the two-point conversion failed.

Leading the team with six tackles was Jim Tom Copeland.  Chase Bruce and Bryan Nickle had four each, followed by Carson Bailey and Anthony Pike with three tackles each.  Brasell had three tackles, one pass breakup and one interception.  

Corbin Baker had three tackles and one pass breakup.  Will Dunlap had two tackles and one fumble recovery. John Cody Dalrymple had two tackles.  

The Green Wave team was right back in action on Thursday, September 20 when they hosted the Tunica Blue Devils before their own home crowd on Green Wave field in another district game. The Junior High Green Wave remained undefeated as they won the battle 33-12 over the Blue Devils.

The Green Wave had 305 total yards.  They had 12 first downs.  

The Blue Devils had 150 offensive yards.  They had four penalties for 30 yards, had six fumbles but only lost three.

Nickle led the team with 101 yards on five carries and two touchdowns.  

Chris Rodgers had 12 carries for 89 yards with two touchdowns. Michael Magee had seven carries for 29 yards.  

Also rushing the ball were Brasell, six carries for 39 yards; Chase Bruce, two for 44 yards; Dalrymple, one carry for 27 yards with 1 touchdown; Hunt Howell, two carries for 12 yards; and Copeland, a two-point conversion.

On the defensive side of the ball, Magee had 11 tackles, Bruce, seven tackles and one forced fumble; Copeland, seven tackles; Brasell, six tackles, one forced fumble; Carson Bailey, four tackles; Will Dunlap, Nickle and  Dalrymple, three tackles each; Corbin Baker, Anthony Pike, and Sy Pritchard, two tackles each; Matthew Barefoot, Catlin McArthur,  and Cody Gaines, one tackle each; McArthur also forced a fumble.       

Head Coach Richard Russo was excited that his team won two district games in four days.

“It feels great. This is a fun group and hopefully they’ll keep me around for a long time and I’ll get to coach these guys all the way to graduation. They take to coaching and they love every minute of it. I believe that they would play a football game at break if we scheduled one. The teammates love being around all three of us coaches. It’s a real friendly atmosphere,” he said.

Russo was impressed with the 11-man team of Tunica.

“Hats off to Tunica, they played hard,” said Russo.  “Only eleven guys and they came out and hit us in the mouth. I’m kind of glad that it happened so that I could see what we were made of as a team, what kind of heart and desire that we had. We challenged them at halftime and they came out and took control in the third quarter.  Junior varsity has a great team and a great opportunity to finish out undefeated.”

As far as the future, Russo said that the sky is the limit.  

“They have just got to finish.”

The Junior High Green Wave were back in action last night at Delta Academy in another district showdown. The results were not available at presstime.

They will be hosting district rival West Memphis next Thursday night at home to finish district play.  It will be freshman night to honor 11 players.