For the 11th time since 2005, the Charleston High School Tigers’ varsity football team will vie for a North Mississippi championship and a state title game berth.
They will do so Friday night, when the 11-2 Tigers host the 12-1 Union High School Yellowjackets of Union, a city that straddles Neshoba and Newton counties.
Charleston advanced on the strength of last week’s 50-18 dominating performance on the road at Hamilton, where the Tigers ended the Lions’ season at 7-6.
Union earned the right to duel Charleston for the north half by upending previously unbeaten Calhoun City 34-26 behind a four-touchdown, third-quarter outburst that played out on Calhoun’s home field. Calhoun City’s season ended with a mark of 11-1.
“We’re proud to get the win in the third round of the playoffs, but our ultimate goal is December,” said CHS head coach LaDon Taylor, alluding to the Class 2A state championship game, which is set for Friday, Dec. 1, at 4 p.m.
Taylor added that it is always good to be playing during Thanksgiving week, because that means the team is fighting for a state berth.
Charleston has appeared in seven state championship games, all in Class 3A with the exception of last year’s Class 2A loss to Scott Central.
The math shows the Tigers are 7-3 in previous north half matchups, and on Friday night they will be looking to defend their 2022 north crown.
Taylor said the hometown team needs the support of the hometown crowd this week above all others this season.
“This is definitely the week that we would love — we need — to see the city come out and support us,” the coach noted.
Kickoff Friday night will be at 7 at Tiger Stadium on the CHS campus.
Union trailed the Calhoun City Wildcats 12-6 at the half Friday night before exploding for 28 third-quarter points. The Wildcats scored 14 in the fourth, but it was too little, too late.
“They just began to play better, for whatever reason,” Taylor said of the Yellowjackets’ rally last week.
Taylor said Union has shown on other occasions this season, an uncanny knack for rebounding from a tough stretch during a football game.
“Philadelphia had them 18-0, then lost 41-18.”
He said a combination of better execution by players as well as coaching ingenuity probably helped turn the tide.
“We’re going to have to match their intensity as players, and as coaches we’ve got to adjust to whatever adjustments their coaching staff makes,” Taylor explained.
While Charleston has been very successful at bringing pressure against opposing quarterbacks this season, Taylor said doing so will be even more important this week.
“They have a quarterback who can scramble and give his receivers a chance to get open, and then deliver the ball to them, and they have some receivers who can fly,” the CHS coach noted. “We’ve got to be sure we get pressure on the quarterback. We’ve got to be sound on defense.”
Union is fairly stout across the offensive and defensive fronts, Taylor said.
“We have been up against big offensive and defensive lines a few times this season,” he added, citing games played against Ripley, Cleveland Central and Winona. CHS went 1-2 against the three teams.
In the Class 2A South State title game this week, the 11-2 Raleigh Lions will play host to the 10-3 Heidelberg Oilers to find out which team punches its ticket to the state contest.
Raleigh is the defending Class 3A state champion, having beaten Noxubee County 55-52 to finish with a record of 14-1 in 2022 before falling in classification last offseason.
Last week, Charleston’s Tigers stormed out to 28 first-quarter points and tacked on 22 more to go up 50-12 at the intermission, according to stats provided by CHS.
Marcus “Deuce” Flowers carried for touchdowns of 30 and 2 yards and for one two-point conversion.
Quentin Carter had a TD run of 64 yards and also tacked on a two-point conversion.
Dre Riley hauled in touchdown passes of 30 and 20 yards from Devon Olive, while Omar Wilson caught a 29-yard TD pass from Olive.
Latese Edwards broke an 80-yard TD run for Charleston and converted a two-point run. Quintavious Cashaw had a conversion run for the Tigers.
Hamilton scored on passes of 59 and 48 yards and a run of 9 yards.
Statistically, Olive completed 5-of-7 passes for 98 yards.
Riley pulled in three of those passes for 56 yards, Wilson had one for 29 and David Ray one for 13 yards.
Flowers led the Tigers on the ground with seven carries for 134 yards. Carter had two runs for 85 yards and Edwards had five totes for 89 yards.
