Noxubee County has been a thorn in the side of Clinton Gatewood’s for some time now.
The Tigers have eliminated the Greenwood Bulldogs from the postseason several times through the years, including back-to-back wins over GHS in the 2014 and 2015 North 4A title games.
The setting has changed this year, but the two former 4A rivals will meet up Friday night in a regular-season clash.
“This is a big game for us. It’s time for this team to start clicking on all cylinders, and that starts with a good showing Friday night against a quality opponent,” said Gatewood, in his 10th season as head coach at Greenwood.
A lot has changed at Noxubee County where the Tigers move down to 3A from 4A and are also breaking in new head coach Teddy Young who was promoted from offensive coordinator. He takes over for Tyrone Shorter who is now the head coach at Louisville.
Noxubee only has three starters back on offense, led by running back Bobby Shanklin and wide receiver Jeffery Malone. There will also be a new quarterback for the Tigers in Marlon Windham who is making the switch from linebacker. Linebackers Trillo Brown and Eldrick Hopkins will lead a young but fast defense.
Noxubee comes in at 3-2 after being demolished last week by 5A power West Point, 52-7. It was the second straight loss for the Tigers, who fell 23-22 the prior week to Philadelphia. Two of the three wins came against Louisville, 2-0, and Columbus, 18-0.
The Bulldog defense — led by tackle Quontavious Lymon, linebacker Davin Anderson and cornerback Travor Randle — will look to keep the Tigers’ offense in check.
Greenwood is 5-0 for the first time in Gatewood’s 10-year tenure. To make it to 6-0, Gatewood said his team must play with more discipline and eliminate a lot of the penalties that have slowed his team down in recent weeks.
Offensively, the Bulldogs will lean on the DeAndre Smith-to-Kobe Chambers connection.
Smith, a sophomore, has thrown for 1,225 yards and 12 touchdowns and has only been intercepted once. Chambers, a senior, has 24 receptions for 638 yards and seven TDs.
