Winner Takes All

Winner Takes All

West Memphis Christian’s offense, averaging 311 rushing yards per game, will try to outscore a Saints offense which has averaged 37 points per game in its last six contests

sports@theeveningtimes.com

It all comes down to this.

Win or lose, West Memphis Christian plays its final football game of the season today as the Black Knights (10-3 overall) travel to Jackson, Mississippi to take on the Trinity Episcopal Day School Saints (7-6) for the 2017 MAIS-A State Championship.

Don’t be fooled by the Saints seven-win record.

After playing up several weight classes against 3A and 4A schools to open the season and stumbling out the game with a 1-5 record, 1A Trinity Episcopal dropped back down to schools their size and has since strung together a six-game winning streak. In that time, the Saints have averaged 37 points per game due to a prolific passing attack that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Black Knights head coach Darrow Anderson.

“Most teams we’ve faced may throw the ball 10 to 15 times a game, maybe,” Anderson said. “This team may throw the ball 50 times and they’re going to sling it…They’re fast.

They have three receivers who can really run and probably about four or five guys that can get it and go anytime they touch the ball. They’re very explosive.”

West Memphis Christian hasn’t had to stop many passing attacks this season. Whether or not the Black Knights can win their first state championship in 21 years will boil down to how well the West Memphis Christian defense has prepared for the Saints aerial assault. However, Anderson doesn’t seem too concerned about the ability of his defensive coordinator, Marcus Davidson, to adjust.

“Coach Davidson has done a really good job,” Anderson said. “If somebody gets something on him, he’ll make stops and adjust to make them. So, if man-press coverage isn’t working, he’ll be able to adjust and make changes.”

The Black Knights defensive plan at kickoff will be playing man-to-man.

“We’re actually going to get up and play press coverage and make them beat us,” Anderson said. “Our strategy is to play manpress, get up in their face, make them work to get off the ball and bring pressure. So, he’s going to have to get it out quick and the receivers are going to have to get open. And, we may give up some big plays here and there in the process, but I think as a whole we’ll be able to stop them.”

The key, according to Anderson, will be to stick with the play and even if a big play is given up to tackle the Saints in the red zone. That may sound obvious. But, the logic applied to the Saints in particular is to limit the field and therefor defuse the explosive offense.

“With their offense, if you put them inside the red zone, they’ll have more trouble trying to score because they don’t have all the room and all the space they’ve had in the past to be able to do what they do,” Anderson said.

“They’re not a team that’s necessarily going to drive it on you and maintain drives. They’re a team that’s going to pop off 60 or 70-yard runs and that type of stuff. They can go.”

And, that “bend-butdon’t- break” philosophy has severed the Black Knights well this season, evident from West Memphis Christian’s 34 total takeaways.

When the West Memphis Christian offense has the ball, expect more of the same. “Dance with who brought you” as the saying goes and cutting the rug, or field in this case, for the Black Knights will be a multitude or rushers.

The Black Knights boast at least one 100-yard rusher in nine of 13 games this season and average an astonishing 311 rushing yards per contest this season.

“I really feel like we will be able to run the football,” Anderson said. “I don’t know on what level.

I don’t know if we’ll be able to pop off (400 to 500) yards. But, I think our offensive line will be able to control the line of scrimmage. The biggest thing, like I’ve said every week, is making sure we protect the football, control the clock and be able to drive it down their throats.”

Off the field, the biggest thing for Anderson all week has been reminding his players that though today’s contest is a state championship game, it is just that, a game. And, despite all of the hype surrounding it, once the game starts its business as usual.

“I think the atmosphere is really more of a worry to me,” Anderson said. “We told them this yesterday, at the end of the day with all of lights and hoopla about it being a state championship game, when the clock starts it’s just another football game. There’s no special trick to it. You’ve got to go out and treat it just like another football game and play like you’ve been playing all year.”

Today’s 2017 MAIS-A State Championship kickoff in Jackson, Mississippi between the Black Knights and Saints is slated for 2:30 p.m. For a full recap, pick up a copy of Monday’s The Evening Times.

By Collins Peeples