High stakes in bitter rivalry: Bruins or Eagles will suffer 1st loss this week

University School of Jackson’s Carlock Stadium will be the site of a heavyweight fight on Friday.

USJ’s football team hosts Jackson Christian.

For the third time in series history (and the last five years), both teams enter the game with perfect records.

Jackson Christian dominated a year ago at Ronnie Fowler Field to a 41-0 decision that was over early.

While neither team has really been tested in the fourth quarter much so far, USJ has really dominated offensively, jumping out to big leads early and holding them in the second half.

Jackson Christian was tested late in their first game in which the Eagles had built a big lead and watched it all but disappear in the second half when their opponent scored three straight touchdowns after recovering two consecutive onside kicks.

A stopped 2-point conversion and recovering the third onside kick is what allowed Jackson Christian to get out of Mississippi with a win.

The following week, Peabody was close early in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles scored a couple of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

But all of that history and statistical data from games before Friday night mean nothing once the ball is kicked on Friday.

“We try to maintain the mentality of trying to go 1-0 every week,” said Jackson Christian linebacker Kai Wyatt, who leads the Eagles with 15 tackles. “A win last week or last year is a nice memory to look back on, but it means nothing once the next game kicks off.”

Skylan Staten, a senior lineman for the Eagles, said how much the Eagles win by isn’t his concern as much as simply making sure his team has more points at the end of the game.

“We’ve had to come up with big plays these first two games defensively,” Staten said. “I’d rather us be up by more late in the game so that we’d not be worried about the outcome at the end, but I have total confidence in all 10 of my brothers on the field with me at any given time that each of them will do their job while I’m doing mine.

“And if we all do that – offense or defense – then we should be able to compete well.”

Competing well may be a tall order against the Bruins, who are averaging beating their opponents by 28 points. Head coach Derrick Pritchard was appreciative of their win last week over another neighboring rival, Trinity Christian, but still wanted to see what the team looked like if and when it puts four quarters of top level play together.

“I think we were there for definitely the first half and half or nearly all of the third quarter tonight,” Pritchard said after the win over TCA. “But then toward the end, we got sloppy and made some errors because we were playing like we knew we were up big.

“But if we can get this team to the point that it’s playing like it’s a tie game on every snap for all four quarters, I’d like to see what we can do against some of the top teams in the state. We’ve got a few chances this season for that, and one of them was tonight [against TCA] and the next one is next week.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news