One of Clinton Gatewood’s goals from day one was to never lose to crosstown rival Amanda Elzy.
So far, so good for the sixth-year Greenwood High School head coach. He is 5-0 against his alma mater, and Gatewood is quite confident that winning trend will continue Friday night, when the two teams clash at 7 at Bulldog Stadium.
“We know Elzy isn’t going to back down. We know Elzy is going to bring it, but we’re going to bring it too,” said Gatewood. “And I plan on being 6-0 against Elzy after Friday night.
“We want to be the kings of the county. We have already beat Leflore County; now we have to beat Elzy to own this county. And that’s just what we plan to do.”
GHS (3-1) defeated Elzy (1-3) 34-0 last season and has won the previous five meetings by an average of 29 points. The Bulldogs lead the series, which started in 1987 with a 49-0 victory by Greenwood, 22-6.
But the Panthers had won three of the previous five meetings before Gatewood took over at GHS prior to the 2010 season.
As a member of the Elzy team in the late 1980s, Gatewood understands how big the rivalry is, and that’s why he openly made it a priority to always win this game.
“It’s about community pride and bragging rights for 365 days, and bragging rights are important when you have cousins vs. cousins and friends vs. friends,” Gatewood said.
First-year Elzy coach Andrew Davis also understands the rivalry. He played for Greenwood in the mid-1990s and served as an assistant coach at GHS from 2009-2011.
“We will be ready, but we’re trying to treat it as just another game,” Davis said. “Greenwood has a good team, but we think we can go and play with them.”
Davis’ team is coming off a disappointing 14-6 loss to Coahoma Aggie. The Panthers’ lone win came in a 26-12 decision over JFK.
Davis says it’s a “blessing” to come back and coach against his alma mater.
The Bulldogs are coming off back-to-back wins over bigger schools — 45-15 over Clarksdale and 40-18 over Greenville Weston — and appear to be coming together for what Gatewood hopes is another Region 3-4A title run. GHS opens region play in two weeks after an open date following the Elzy game.
“I like what I’ve seen out of our offense lately, putting up at least 40 points in back-to-back games, but we still have a long way to go to get to where we want to be in the end,” said the Greenwood coach.
Gatewood has been using two quarterbacks, senior Damarius Ray and junior Tranleson Tribblett, but Tribblett won’t play this week after suffering what Gatewood says was a “mild concussion” last week vs. Greenville.
In his first season with the Bulldogs, Ray has completed 26 of 51 passes for 456 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception.
