WEBB — The West Tallahatchie High School football Choctaws hope to continue their present streak of five consecutive seasons of state playoff appearances.
In 2024, the Choctaws compiled a 7-2 regular-season mark — their first seven-win regular season since 2017 — and defeated Sacred Heart at home, 36-14, in a first-round playoff game before falling in the second round at 9-1 Velma Jackson.
However, head coach Shane Hargett's squad will be rebuilding this year after graduating eight of 11 starters on offense and seven of 11 on defense.
"We lost 99.8% of our offensive production, so we're very young," Hargett said recently.
The schedule might help, as West Tally is set to play nine regular-season games, and seven of those teams sported losing records a year ago. In fact, the cumulative mark of the nine teams was 29-69 in 2024. The two teams with winning records — 12-3 Charleston and 7-5 Leflore County — accounted for 19 wins while the other seven teams had only 10 wins among them.
Six of the Choctaws' nine games are against opponents they did not face last year.
After hosting M.S. Palmer (2-10) at Webb Saturday night, the Choctaws travel to face West Bolivar (whom they beat 40-0 last year) on Sept. 5 and host Ruleville Edwards Sept. 12 before traveling to east Tallahatchie for the annual "Battle for the Golden Egg" against cross-county rival, the Charleston Tigers.
Homecoming is set for Oct. 17 against Coffeeville.
The Mississippi High School Activities Association's newly realigned classifications and regions place the Choctaws in a new number region — Region 4 of Class 1A — along with Coffeeville, French Camp Academy and Leflore County. While the Choctaws play five of their nine games on the road, they will host two of the three regional contests, with Coffeeville and Leflore County.
