Money05 Posted October 31 Share Posted October 31 (edited) With the regular season coming to a close and playoffs beginning, 1A football appears to have two clear projected favorites to make an appearance in Starkville. Leflore County would be my clear favorite for the North representative, and Simmons would be my pick from the south. While both teams seem to be the clear powers in their respective geographical regions (even though both teams are from the Delta but split between North and South), here are a few questions to discuss regarding possible shakeups we could see occur in the coming weeks to impact these projections: 1. Will Tupelo Christian’s strength of schedule catch up to them, or do they have what it takes to compete with Calhoun City and Leflore County down the stretch? 2. Is Lumberton at home good enough to scare Simmons and potentially send them home early assuming both teams meet in the 3rd round? 3. Can Junior Graham’s Ethel Tigers make a run to the South State championship, or will Stringer or South Delta end their historic season prior? Edited October 31 by Money05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pancho Posted October 31 Share Posted October 31 good explanation on the north 1A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s1nglewing Posted October 31 Share Posted October 31 7 hours ago, Money05 said: With the regular season coming to a close and playoffs beginning, 1A football appears to have two clear projected favorites to make an appearance in Starkville. Leflore County would be my clear favorite for the North representative, and Simmons would be my pick from the south. While both teams seem to be the clear powers in their respective geographical regions (even though both teams are from the Delta but split between North and South), here are a few questions to discuss regarding possible shakeups we could see occur in the coming weeks to impact these projections: 1. Will Tupelo Christian’s strength of schedule catch up to them, or do they have what it takes to compete with Calhoun City and Leflore County down the stretch? 2. Is Lumberton good enough to scare Simmons at home and potentially send them home early assuming both teams meet in the 3rd round? 3. Can Junior Graham’s Ethel Tigers make a run to the South State championship, or will Stringer or South Delta end their historic season prior? What's "historic" about Ethel this season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Money05 Posted October 31 Author Share Posted October 31 54 minutes ago, s1nglewing said: What's "historic" about Ethel this season? Ethel upset Nanih Waiya and won a district title for the first time since 1995. They also have not won a playoff game since 1991, but that should change when they play West Lincoln next Friday. For a program with a 36% all time winning percentage, this has been a great year for them. Definitely wouldn’t be considered “historic” for the blue blood programs in the state, but in comparison to their recent history, this has been a great year for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyouevencoachbro Posted October 31 Share Posted October 31 1 hour ago, Money05 said: Ethel upset Nanih Waiya and won a district title for the first time since 1995. They also have not won a playoff game since 1991, but that should change when they play West Lincoln next Friday. For a program with a 36% all time winning percentage, this has been a great year for them. Definitely wouldn’t be considered “historic” for the blue blood programs in the state, but in comparison to their recent history, this has been a great year for them. I agree with this statement. For Ethel this is pretty impressive. I don't think they will beat Stringer in the 2nd round but, I think they will at least get to play them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccbulldog Posted October 31 Share Posted October 31 why are there so many more 1A schools in the north than south that Simmons has to go play in the south.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted October 31 Share Posted October 31 43 minutes ago, ccbulldog said: why are there so many more 1A schools in the north than south that Simmons has to go play in the south.? 3 regions in the Tupelo to Columbus area and 10 or 12 non football schools is one reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Money05 Posted October 31 Author Share Posted October 31 3 hours ago, doyouevencoachbro said: I agree with this statement. For Ethel this is pretty impressive. I don't think they will beat Stringer in the 2nd round but, I think they will at least get to play them. You know if you really break it down I think Ethel has a better chance than people might expect. Ethel only gives up around 11-12 ppg, where Stringer is 1-3 this season when they score under 30 points. Ethel has held an 8-2 Eupora team to 14 points, and a banged up Nanih Waiya to only 6 points. Although Ethel has experienced offensive struggles most of the year, I think they could pull it off at home assuming their defense can match Stringer’s offensive physicality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSportsGuy Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 It’s ridiculous there are three zero win teams in the “playoffs”. Go back to 4 regions for 1A or take the top 2 teams because this is stupid. Also so, so many teams aren’t playing ten games anymore. Why? I see a lot of nine game teams and some who played eight. What would the reason be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 54 minutes ago, MSSportsGuy said: It’s ridiculous there are three zero win teams in the “playoffs”. Go back to 4 regions for 1A or take the top 2 teams because this is stupid. Also so, so many teams aren’t playing ten games anymore. Why? I see a lot of nine game teams and some who played eight. What would the reason be? Forest dropped the Raleigh game. Coach called 3 other coaches and got a no response. Bay Springs coach dropped us because our boys hit theirs so hard they can't take the pain. Coaches are playing their buddies now in some cases orcoaches they went to school with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Shackleford Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 1 hour ago, MSSportsGuy said: It’s ridiculous there are three zero win teams in the “playoffs”. Go back to 4 regions for 1A or take the top 2 teams because this is stupid. Also so, so many teams aren’t playing ten games anymore. Why? I see a lot of nine game teams and some who played eight. What would the reason be? With most districts only having 5 teams, every team has a week once district play starts where you don’t have anybody to play in district. So in order to find somebody, you are limited to only the teams from other districts who also happen to not have a district game that week. It’s a lot harder to find people to play because the majority of teams are locked into a district game. You just have to hope your non district week lines up with somebody else’s that is willing to play. Like Bert said. When Forest dropped Raleigh in the middle of the two year cycle. It was impossible for Raleigh to find anybody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 2 hours ago, Rusty Shackleford said: With most districts only having 5 teams, every team has a week once district play starts where you don’t have anybody to play in district. So in order to find somebody, you are limited to only the teams from other districts who also happen to not have a district game that week. It’s a lot harder to find people to play because the majority of teams are locked into a district game. You just have to hope your non district week lines up with somebody else’s that is willing to play. Like Bert said. When Forest dropped Raleigh in the middle of the two year cycle. It was impossible for Raleigh to find anybody 7 others in MHSAA were open including Scott Central and Hazlehurst. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pancho Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 I know football coaches who are now dropping competition because they know the opponent will be a very good team the next few years. just weak and running from good comp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Shackleford Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 45 minutes ago, Rebel Bert said: 7 others in MHSAA were open including Scott Central and Hazlehurst. Yep. Both turned Raleigh down. As did Ittawamba AHS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSportsGuy Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 4 hours ago, Rusty Shackleford said: With most districts only having 5 teams, every team has a week once district play starts where you don’t have anybody to play in district. So in order to find somebody, you are limited to only the teams from other districts who also happen to not have a district game that week. It’s a lot harder to find people to play because the majority of teams are locked into a district game. You just have to hope your non district week lines up with somebody else’s that is willing to play. Like Bert said. When Forest dropped Raleigh in the middle of the two year cycle. It was impossible for Raleigh to find anybody That makes sense. Hmmmm.......so 5 team regions seems to have resulted in scheduling challenges for coaches. Another great reason to go back to 6 classes and boost the number of teams in a region back to 6. Sounds like the excitement was really increased by this move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 1 hour ago, Rusty Shackleford said: Yep. Both turned Raleigh down. As did Ittawamba AHS October 9, 2026 open dates * 7A) 7 schools: Madison Central, Brandon, NW Rankin were close by *6A) 2 schools: both up North *5A) Vicksburg * open date fixed into schedule 4A) 3 schools including Forest, Itawamba, and Poplarville 3A) 4 schools including Raleigh and Hazlehurst 2A) 3 schools including Scott Central and Sacred Heart which pulled out after schedules were published with away game at Columbia Academy 1A) 6 schools with Mt Olive, Ethel, and Calhoun City the closest. 7 MAIS schools including Columbia, MRA, St Alyouisa, Adams Christian, and Centerville. Not sure Hig would be interested in another MAIS school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Money05 Posted 1 hour ago Author Share Posted 1 hour ago As we head into the 2nd round of playoffs for 1A, it seems pretty clear to me on who will advance to round 3 from the North. However, the South has several intriguing matchups that I think could go either way. Here are the matchups with my picks in bold. Share your thoughts on these as well. South Delta at Bogue Chitto Stringer at Ethel (toss-up) Nanih Waiya at Lumberton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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