By Brad Greer

Standing in a muddy practice field at Desoto (Ark.), it did not take long for first-year North Delta head coach Lance Thomas to answer if he saw any positives in his team’s play at Friday night’s jamboree against district foes Marvell, Ark. and Delta Academy.

“I really did not see any good things out there tonight,“ said Thomas after the Wave fell to the Raiders 6-0 in the second of two 20-minute contests the Wave played on a rainy night in West Helena, Ark. “There was no emotion whatsoever. We need to get after it emotionally and we as coaches need to do a better job preparing these kids mentally to play. This (tonight) was our fault. Plain and simple.”

The Green Wave locked horns with Marvell in the first contest of the night with North Delta coming out on top with a 6-0 win as quarterback Bateman Greenlee scored on a one-yard plunge with 46 seconds remaining in the contest. The touchdown was set up when Greenlee hit Jim Tom Copeland over the middle for a 63-yard pass play on 2-and-21 from the North Delta 36 yard line. Greenlee then called his number by diving in from the left side for the score.

Marvell had a chance to tie the game as they drove the ball down to the North Delta 25, but could not get off another play before the clock expired. North Delta amassed 108 total yards in the game. Geri Lamm led all rushers with 15 yards on four carries. Hunter West busted a 14-yard run on his only carry of the game while Greenlee had four totes for nine yards and sophomore Tres Brasell accounted for eight yards in the game. Brasell had a 17-yard gain nullified by a holding call on the last possession.

In the second contest, Delta held the Wave to 43 total yards on the night including zero yards rushing as Kyle Long hauled in a nine-yard touchdown pass with 11:29 left for the game’s only score. Long was the workhorse for the Raiders’ offense as he amassed 44 yards on five carries including a 23-yard scamper to the Wave 10 that helped set up the game-winning score.

North Delta’s only bright spot of the game came on a Greenlee -to-Ryan King 43-yard pass play to the Raider 32, but that would be as close as the Green Wave would get in the game. Earlier in the game, Cameron Goodwin recovered a fumble on the North Delta 42 that halted a Raider drive.

Thomas did say later he thought the defense played hard and made some adjustments against Delta that slowed down their option game, but stated there was work to be done before North Delta’s first game of the season Friday night at home against Strider Academy.

“I think we need to work on our pass protection a little bit more. Our running backs need to do a better job of that. All of those mistakes can and will be corrected by next week,” said Thomas.
North Delta will host Strider Friday night in the season opener beginning at 7:30 p.m.