When the Greenville Christian School Saints and the St. Joseph Catholic School Fighting Irish (3-0) hit the gridiron on Friday night, both teams will enter having respect for what the other can do. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Greenville Christian (2-2).
The matchup is not just the first game of the season for both teams in MAIS District 3—3A, but also, perhaps, a preview of which team will have an inside track to the state championship in November. Man have the two Greenville squads as co-favorites to win a state title.
St. Joseph Coach John Baker said he respects the talent of the Saints at the skill position. The Saints once again feature a dynamic offense led by transfer quarterback and his two main receivers Ashton Powell and Aaron Lee. Greenville Christian also relies heavy on the speedy and talented tailback Chris Watkins, who ran for a season high 186 yards and three touchdowns last Friday night in the Saints’ 40-0 blowout of Central Holmes.
“This is the biggest game of the year by far for us,” St. Joseph Coach John Baker said. “We are going up against a good ball team that has a lot of skill players. The first thing we need to do is not put ourselves in bad situations and not turn over the football.”
The St. Joseph Fighting Irish, meanwhile, are led on offense by their big running back combination of seniors Quay Nash and John Haggards. Both backs play a physical, bullish style of football and their play is a big reason why the Irish are off to a perfect 3-0 start to the season. Junior Jayden Moore gives the Irish another look with his speed.
St. Joseph quarterback Victor Baker has also progressed his junior season. Baker, throwing to top receivers like senior Jaden Easley, junior Ar’Mon Hannah and sophomore Jaleel Moore, had one of his best games of the season last Friday in his team’s 35-0 victory over the West Memphis Black Knights last Friday where he threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns.
The St. Joseph defense stepped up big time as well in the win with Jaleel Moore recording four sacks and Julius McCullum having a sack, forcing a fumbe and finishing with nine total tackles.
“This game is a matchup of different styles,” Greenville Christian School coach Jon Reed McLendon said. “We have more of a wide open offense and they bring size and physicality to their running game. John Haggard and Quay Nash are definitely one of the big strengths of their offense.”
While the Saints come into Friday’s contest with two losses and the Fighting Irish are undefeated, Coach Baker said you should not read too much into that. Both GCS losses— to Canton Academy and Gulfport High School — have come against much bigger programs.
“I would call them the heavy favorite,” Coach Baker said.
