After three consecutive games on the road, two of which resulted in lopsided defeats, the 3-3 Charleston High School Tigers are anxious to return to the friendly confines of home this Friday.
The Tigers will play host to the 2-4 Leland High School Cubs during homecoming at Tiger Stadium. The match also represents the opening volley of Charleston’s Region 3-2A schedule. Kickoff is at 7.
“Leland plays hard,” said CHS head coach Rasheed DeBerry. “They have pretty good speed and are pretty scrappy.”
Leland is fresh from a 24-14 win over 0-6 M.S. Palmer.
Charleston, meanwhile, is coming off a 32-6 loss last week at Class 6A Olive Branch, which stands at 3-3.
DeBerry said the coaching staff is paying attention to the players’ mindset after two blowout losses to much larger schools, including a 52-8 thrashing suffered Sept. 25 at Class 7A DeSoto Central in Southaven.
The DeSoto margin of defeat was the worst for a Charleston team in decades.
“Coming off of the two losses that we had, you risk the chance that young guys like we have can kind of lose sight or lose confidence, so right now it’s all about kind of getting them back to zero-and-zero [in the won-lost record],” DeBerry said. “It’s a new season, as we call starting the district schedule. It’s trying to make them understand, hey, we’re still good. We’re still here.”
With this being homecoming week, DeBerry said coaches are being especially mindful about “just trying to keep the distractions down” leading up to Friday night’s game against Leland.
Next week is fall break, so players will not have to report for classes but still must maintain their practice schedule discipline, DeBerry said, adding, “Those challenges are always something to be mindful of and stay focused on.”
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The Olive Branch game proved to be somewhat more competitive, and not just from a scoreboard perspective.
“We started off a little slow and didn’t execute very well the first half but were still very much in the game,” said DeBerry. “We actually came out and showed a lot of fight the second half. We showed a lot more toughness than the week before.”
As a result of a safety, a passing touchdown of 26 yards and a rushing TD of 1 yard, plus conversions, the Tigers found themselves down 16-0 at the half.
However, Charleston took the opening kickoff of the third quarter and drove 83 yards with deliberate speed. Quay Kimble cashed in on an 18-yard rushing play. The two-point conversion failed, but the deficit was now 10.
However, Olive Branch scored on a 40-yard pass in the third quarter, and a safety and 5-yard run in the fourth, to close out the game.
“We still have a couple of growing pains when it comes to matching the intensity or matching the size difference of a school like that,” DeBerry noted of Olive Branch. “There’s a lot of maturity that we’re still trying to develop here with these guys, just letting them know that once upon a time, Charleston was a school that would go and beat that school. Wasn’t intimidated at all.”
In the end, DeBerry called the Olive Branch contest “a good measuring stick for us,” adding, “I feel like we showed a lot of resiliency in the third quarter and didn’t make as many mistakes as in the DeSoto Central game, but we’re still trying to get those things fixed to get ready for district play.”
